World Health Organization says US CDC needs to be protected

By Jasper Ward

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The World Health Organization on Sunday called for the "protection of public health excellence" at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"No institution is perfect and continued improvements are always needed to make sure the latest science and evidence is applied to emerging challenges in real time, but the work of the US CDC has been invaluable and must be protected," WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a post on X.

His comments come amid leadership changes at the CDC and concerns that decisions by U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are putting Americans' health at risk.

Ghebreyesus did not echo those concerns or calls by some for Kennedy to resign. He instead pointed to how the CDC's reputation as a "center of excellence" has inspired other countries to adopt its best practices.

Ghebreyesus said the WHO's longtime relationship with the CDC has ensured that people in the United States and around the world benefited from the best U.S. science "while at the same time providing the U.S. with access to global health data, alerts, experience and guidance from other countries."

The Trump administration has been critical of the WHO for its handling of COVID-19, with Kennedy dismissing the organization as "moribund."

In January, Trump ordered the United States to leave the WHO.

(Reporting by Jasper Ward in Washington; Editing by Ross Colvin and Matthew Lewis)

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