A doctor set for a role in the Trump administration has given a fascinating insight into the president’s motives for pulling America out of the World Health Organization.
Trump signed an executive order to withdraw from the WHO in one of his first acts as president, citing the agency’s close ties to China, failings during Covid and the fact he believes the US was being ripped off by the organization.
But speaking on DailyMail.com’s podcast Welcome to MAGAland this week, Dr Aseem Malhotra said there were also concerns among those in the incoming administration about the agency’s ties to big pharma and other special interest groups.
He highlighted how more than 80 percent of WHO’s funding relies on ‘voluntary contributions,’ meaning any amount of money given freely by donors, whether member states, NGOs, philanthropic organizations or other private entities.
Dr Malhotra said there were concerns that donors could be looking for a return on investment, which could influence the WHO’s decisions on a range of matters, from rolling out medical devices to implementing vaccine recommendations.
This funding model contrasts to when the WHO first launched in 1948 and its budget was set by countries’ annual membership fees.
Dr Malhotra, who is close friends with RFK Jr, Trump’s pick for secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, used the fact Bill Gates is one of the WHO’s largest donors as an example.
A doctor set for a role in the Trump administration has revealed why the President decided to withdraw the US from the World Health Organization , with Bill Gates’ involvement being a top concern
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation donated $689 million to the United Nations agency in 2024, making the Gates’ the largest contributor after the US, which paid $958 million.
But Dr Malhotra says that Gates has a conflict of interest, as he is ‘heavily invested in ultra-processed foods‘ which are fueling the global crisis of chronic diseases.
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s Q1 2024 filing shows holdings of $604 million in Coca-Cola shares and nearly $97 million in Kraft Heinz, the maker of Kraft mac and cheese, an array of processed meats like Oscar Mayer, and Jell-O.
Gates has also championed synthetic meat, investing in companies such as Beyond Meat, Hampton Creek Foods and Nature’s Fynd, despite growing concerns about the health effects of these ultraprocessed alternatives.
Dr Malhotra says Gates’ backing of ultra-processed junk foods presents a problem, as ‘these are the people that are really directing the policy of the WHO’ and they might not be acting in the public’s best interest.
Despite backing Kamala Harris during the 2024 election, Gates met with Trump in January after he was elected for a dinner in New York to fill him in on his work.
The Microsoft founder said that much of the three-hour discussion was focused on global health and elaborated on his efforts to combat HIV.
Another critical topic was the ongoing fight against polio, a disease that Gates’ foundation has long targeted for eradication.
Gates said Trump was ‘fascinated’ by the complexities of achieving eradication and, he claims, seemed eager to explore how his administration could support the effort.
British cardiologist Dr Aseem Malhotra , who also has close ties to RFK Jr, Trump’s pick for secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, highlights that billionaire Gates is one of WHO’s largest donors
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation donated $689 million to the United Nations agency in 2024, making the Gates’ the largest contributor after the US
Dr Malhotra accused Gates of ‘making money on both ends’, by investing in companies that are linked to unhealthy effects, and investing in the drugs to treat them.
A study from Harvard University in 2011 found that the Gates Foundation’s corporate stock endowment is ‘heavily’ invested in food and drug companies, both directly and indirectly.
The foundation also participates in grants that encourage farmers in developing countries to become business affiliates of Coca-Cola.
With these links, the researchers said that ‘the overarching challenge is to prevent these potential interests from distorting science and public health outcomes.’
Dr Malhotra notes that Gates also ‘made half a billion dollars from, investments in the Covid vaccine’ which could have had a bearing on the policies implemented by WHO.
Backing up these claims, investigative journalist Jordan Schachtel said that from his research, he found that in September 2019 Gates spent $55million on a pre-IPO equity investment into BioNtech.
The company, which is headquartered in Germany, later partnered with Pfizer to make its Covid vaccine. Because of this, Schachtel says Gates’ investment is now worth more than $550 million.
The entrepreneur also has investments in many other healthcare companies, which boomed during Covid, including Abbott, Gavi and SD Biosensor.
The amount of donors with vested interests in WHO and the ability to control world health means it is no longer an independent entity, Dr Malhotra says.
He says even WHO’s former director general Dr Margaret Chan, admitted the agency’s funding comes with ‘strings attached.’
In a conference in 2015, she explained: ‘As an organization, only 30 percent of my budget is predictable funds.
‘[The] other 70 percent I have to take a hat and go around the world to beg for money.
‘And when they give us the money, they are highly linked to their preferences what they like.’
President Trump told a Las Vegas rally on Saturday he was considering U-turning on his decision to withdraw the US from the World Health Organization days after signing an executive order to do so
Meanwhile, an article in Nature published in 2017 underscores why ‘time is ripe to reform the WHO’.
The piece reads: ‘One problem is that the WHO has become dangerously dependent on voluntary contributions, which now make up more than 80 percent of its overall budget.
‘Most of this money comes with strings attached by the funders to their own priorities, making it next to impossible for the WHO to have much of a say in its own agenda.
‘As a result, the WHO’s programs have proliferated but thinned.’
Dr Malhotra says Trump’s government ‘wants the WHO to exist and have a role, but until it becomes independent, I believe that, making a statement by withdrawing funding from the WHO from all these countries is the right move for sure. 100 percent.’
Trump’s executive order sets a 12-month notice period for the US to leave the United Nations health agency and stop all financial contributions to its work.
But already domestic health agencies such as the CDC have been told to sever communications with the agency.
The United States is by far the WHO’s biggest financial backer, contributing around 18 percent of its overall funding. WHO’s most recent two-year budget, for 2024-2025, was $6.8 billion.
The US departure is likely to put at risk programs across the organization, according to several experts both inside and outside the WHO, notably those tackling tuberculosis, the world’s biggest infectious disease killer, as well as HIV/AIDS and other health emergencies.
‘This is the darkest day for global health I’ve ever experienced,’ said Lawrence Gostin, a professor of global health at Georgetown University in Washington and director of the WHO Collaborating Center on National and Global Health Law.
Trump’s order said the administration would cease negotiations on the WHO pandemic treaty while the withdrawal is in progress.
US government personnel working with the WHO will be recalled and reassigned, and the government will look for partners to take over necessary WHO activities, according to the order.
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The government will review, rescind, and replace the 2024 US Global Health Security Strategy as soon as practicable, the order said.
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[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
