Discussion: Steve Umemoto and others: What can we retirees do about the US and WHO?

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Steve Umemotos


I wonder if there is any role the Americans amonst us might play in assuring members of WHO and its community, that it is only a rougue US Administration that is withdrawing, not the US as a nation.


Could we encourage any and every health and medical association and NGO in the country to communite their continued interest in cooperation and commuication?

Could we encourage the media to cover the many roles WHO plays and why health and medical experts across America value its work and its networking?

Could we communicate with congressmen, senators and others?

Our voice may be small, but perhaps we could contribute to what should be a avalanche of support. Perhaps e could even ask the informal advice of the UNICEF ED. Perhaps there are some things should cannot say in her role, but we can.

Any views?

Steve


Leila Bisharat


Yes we can do all of that Steve!

Be safe! Be well! Be kind!

Leila T. Bisharat, Ph.D.


Robert Cohen

Yes, we really should do all these things. Would the UN Foundation be the right organization to pull together a petition and statement? Unfortunately I don’t have a contract there.


Thanks for opening this conversation, Steve.
--


Robert David Cohen
Fyi


https://www.ama-assn.org/press-center/ama-statements/ama-statement-president-terminating-us-relationship-who


Kul Gautam

Hi Steve and colleagues,


Besides Steve's many good suggestions, I trust you have seen that two influential Republicans in the US Congress, Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee who is the Chair of GOP Health Committee and Congressman Will Hurd of Texas of the House Appropriations Committee have publicly disagreed with Trump's decision to withdraw and defund WHO. I think it would be a good idea for our American XUNICEF colleagues to generate lots of letters to them encouraging them to mobilize their other Republican colleagues to restore US funding and leadership for WHO as I suggested in my tweet below.


It would also be good for us to coordinate and collaborate with the UN Association of USA, the UN Foundation, the Better World Campaign, and RESULTS.org who are actively mobilizing US support for WHO in particular and for the UN in general.


I trust you will join Democratic Senators & Congressmen & mobilize your fellow Republican legislators to restore US funding & leadership for
@WHO & global public health.
@RESULTS_Tweets
@UNAUSA
@BetterWorldOrg
@DrTedros


https://twitter.com/sahilkapur/status/1266488036956811265/photo/1

Rep. Will Hurd

@HurdOnTheHill

I have been critical of both the

@WHO and Chinese Communist Party's handling of the pandemic and called for answers, but turning our backs on the WHO is not the answer.

Kul Chandra Gautam

Nancy Terreri

Great suggestions. Would also add that writing letters to the editor is still a good way to raise awareness. Here in Ft Myers we have turned what used to be a completely right wing paper into one that publishes plenty of progressive letters to the editor. Old folks do still read the paper, even if only online.


For those of us heavily involved in getting Trump and the GOP out of leadership, we can be optimistic that come Jan. 2021 the new administration will reverse this decision and so many more. As US citizens this has to be our main focus for the next 6 mos.


warm regards,
Nancy

Stephen Umemoto

(Nancy, glad to hear about the evolution in you local media. Of course, we all hope for a major change in Washington and would fully expect a complete reversable in the WHO actions. But we also seem to agree that to the limits of our limited capacites, we should consider at lending our voices to protest and perhaps conveying a bit of education and enlightenment to those who may not really not know WHO).



There seems some early consensus that communications to relevant US congresspersons and senators are appropriate and perhaps communications to any and all media. For many, if not most of us, what is easiest is if we have a draft letter or message that we can either send as is, or tinker with to highlight our own feelings and concerns. For the media draft, I wonder if our media savey members --Robert, Nancy, Alan, Shiela? might consider coming up with or more drafts? In my view, they needn't be long, but merely highlighting to middle-America readers what WHO really does for the world (including the US) and how important it is that we as a country be part of that international undertaking. Perhaps something that could be the basis of an article in a small local or online publications, or perhaps a letter-to-the-editor of a larger paper. Robert, could we consider feeding you ideas for an article on Other News?



Kul, how can various of us communicate meaninfully with congressmen and senators? Unlike you (and the guy in the world you would least like to be clubed together with), I do not do Twitter. To e-mail any senator or congressperson in the US, one has to put down a relevant address and postal code. Most will just not accept e-mail traffic from other than constituents. Nevertheless, when I do get off an e-mail to my Colorado senator and congressman (both D) I usually get a response. Could we work together on a relatively short message that we could share with the group, as a basis for communications Washington?


Steve


Nancy Terreri

YES, Would be helpful to have drafts that we can share with family & others who don’t know WHO so well.


Many of us are using RESISTBOT on our phones to send messages to members of congress. (Text RESIST to 50409)


Email is also good to our reps.

Hard copy letters do not get read until they go through the security system so are often long delays in arrival (fear of poison pen letters..literally).


Phone calls to members of Congress are also good as the staff member has to tally those and pass the results on. Works best if there are many calls to that member.

Nancy


Leila Bisharat

Sounds like a good start, Steve. I'm ready to write our senators and congressmen with or without a draft. Having a shared draft would be a better strategy for having more impact. We could also add Congressional candidates to the list of people to receive our letters.


Leila