Gavin Newsom, governor of California, announced on Jan. 23 that California will be joining the World Health Organization (WHO) in counter to Trump’s national withdrawal from WHO, due to his view that the organization mishandled the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, although the organization has denied this multiple times. This withdrawal means the U.S. will no longer donate to the organization and take back the specialists assigned to work at WHO, although it would make the U.S. more prone to various diseases that were helped by the WHO such as polio and HIV.

“The Trump administration’s withdrawal from WHO is a reckless decision that will hurt all Californians and Americans”, Newsom said in a press release.

As of Jan. 29, California is the first and only state to join a WHO program. California joined WHO’s Global Outbreak Alert & Response Network (GOARN). GOARN “Provides international public health resources to control outbreaks and public health emergencies across the globe”, according to (GOARN).

The World Health Organization is an agency a part of the United Nations whose goal is to promote health around the world. They advocate for healthier lives, universal health coverage, and ample response to health emergencies and they are currently partnered with 194 member states across 6 regions and work on the ground in more than 150 locations (World Health Organization).

With California joining the GOARN program, it allows for more responsiveness to any emerging public health threats that may affect the state by receiving resources and help from the WHO.