Dr. John R. Finnegan

It makes no sense to me, first of all, because I understood that we were going to have a make America healthy again, and I don't understand how that happens when you're dismantling everything.

But the

I think the outcome of this, and you're already seeing some of this discussion that's going on, you're going to see increased mortality and morbidity worldwide because the US is not there anymore.

We're not providing the drugs and the treatment.

Sub-Saharan Africa is a perfect example of this.

We will likely see rises in drug resistance.

We will see threats to global security on a variety of different levels.

And basically the U.S.

is pulling out of WHO and taking apart USAID, is undermining the global health infrastructure.

And we have played this role really since the end of World War II.

with the establishment of the United Nations and later on with the establishment of the World Health Organization.

This is scary stuff to me because the US becoming more isolationist as it was in the early 20th century isn't viable anymore when you talk about travel, when you talk about the ease of getting around the world.

That really worries me.

And of course, as I mentioned, this has a ripple effect on local health agencies.

It affects the state health agencies first, and then it affects the counties.

And as we know in the United States, the primary responsibility for public health is not the federal government, it's the states.

And the states are heavily assisted by the federal government and cannot really do their job

unless that assistance and that expertise is there.

So I want to get that out there, first of all, so that we understand this is likely going to go on.

I think it is a global health crisis.