The director general of the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL), Mika Salminen, said he finds it difficult to understand why US President Donald Trump wants the United States to withdraw from the World Health Organisation (WHO).
"The US exercises a lot of power in the WHO," Salminen said on Yle TV1's breakfast show on Wednesday.
Trump, who was sworn in as US president for another term on Monday, announced that he planned to withdraw the country from the global health group. The United States is WHO's biggest financial supporter, paying out around 18 percent of its funding.
WHO is a specialised agency of the United Nations whose mission is to protect public health around the world. Among other tasks, its mission is to prevent the spread of disease and respond to health emergencies.
But Trump has said he thinks that membership in the WHO is too costly. Salminen suggested the US president may not be satisfied with all of its activities.
"Perhaps he was particularly bothered by something during the coronavirus pandemic. Maybe he felt the WHO did not condemn China strongly enough," Salminen suggested.
Salminen: WHO budget relatively small
While the US is currently WHO's biggest source of funding, Salminen characterised the organisation's budget as relatively very small.
"It's in the same league as the City of Helsinki's budget," he said.
The WHO's latest two-year budget for 2024 and 2025 amounted to around 6.5 billion euros, while the Finnish capital's budget for this year alone is about 4.4 billion euros.
The US is not, however, immediately withdrawing from the WHO, as such a process could take months, at least. But if it does leave, that would have major consequences, Salminen said.
In order to be better prepared than during Covid, WHO member countries are in the process of negotiating an agreement on how to handle the next eventual global pandemic.
According to Salminen, the US leaving the group would threaten completion of the pandemic agreement.
"It would be a risk to global health security if the US does not want to be involved in the agreement on these issues," Salminen told Yle.
He noted that the EU is now weighing whether member states should increase their influence in the WHO.
In reaction to Trump's withdrawal plans, the WHO issued a statement noting that the US was one of its founding members and has participated in shaping and governing its work since 1948.
"WHO plays a crucial role in protecting the health and security of the world's people, including Americans, by addressing the root causes of disease, building stronger health systems, and detecting, preventing and responding to health emergencies, including disease outbreaks, often in dangerous places where others cannot go," the agency said in a statement.
"Together, we ended smallpox, and together we have brought polio to the brink of eradication. American institutions have contributed to and benefited from membership in WHO," the statement read.