The International Society of Nephrology (ISN), with its mission to improve kidney health worldwide and ensure that all people have equitable access to sustainable kidney health, has noted with alarming concern that President Donald Trump has formally moved to withdraw the US from the World Health Organization (WHO).

The global healthcare community has appreciated the constant support by the United States of America to WHO. Withdrawal of support would seriously destabilise the ongoing global response to the COVID-19 pandemic, especially in terms of protection to the poorest and the most vulnerable. The WHO has a central role in coordinating the global movement towards Sustainable Development Goals through strengthening health systems, improving access to medicines and diagnostics, protecting the worst off through optimal sharing of expertise, and developing technical responses to important health issues. We need to support and work together with the WHO to ensure that health systems around the world are able to support fully also the patients with pre-existing chronic conditions, including kidney disease. The proposed withdrawal of support will put directly billions of lives worldwide at risk. The ISN, representing the global kidney health community, stands with the WHO and reiterates the need for a global health agency more than ever.

The ISN urges the other branches of the government in the US and its political leaders to immediately reverse this decision and focus on the most important task at hand, which is to ensure provision of optimal care to all whose health has been directly or indirectly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.