The recent decision by President Donald Trump to initiate the United States' withdrawal from the World Health Organization (WHO) has sparked international debate—much of it focused on geopolitics and diplomacy. Yet behind the bluntness of his pronouncement—“World Health ripped us off. Everybody rips off the United States. It’s not going to happen anymore”—lies a concern that resonates well beyond American borders.
For decades, the WHO has projected itself as the moral compass of global health. But this self-image increasingly sits at odds with the criticisms leveled against it: bureaucratic inertia, a lack of transparency, disproportionate sway over national policies, and an apparent detachment from local realities. These are not abstract failings; they have had tangible consequences for countries like India, which have allowed the WHO significant influence in shaping domestic healthcare frameworks.
One particularly fraught area of this influence concerns India’s traditional systems of medicine—especially Ayurveda. Rooted in centuries of empirical knowledge and codified in the philosophical traditions of Sanatana Dharma, Ayurveda represents more than a health practice; it is a civilizational asset. Yet it has often been subjected to the evaluative frameworks of Western biomedical science—frameworks that may be ill-suited to understand or validate its principles.
When international bodies like the WHO—often shaped by Euro-American paradigms—seek to define the contours of what constitutes "scientific" or "effective" in healthcare, they risk reducing India’s indigenous systems to caricatures. This undermines both scientific pluralism and national sovereignty. A system such as Ayurveda, which emphasizes balance, prevention, and holistic well-being, deserves to be understood on its own terms—not reinterpreted or invalidated by alien metrics.
The question before us is not whether India should disengage from global health institutions. Rather, it is whether such engagement should continue unquestioned, particularly when it compromises our autonomy and intellectual heritage. In an age where health diplomacy is increasingly shaped by power asymmetries and ideological entrenchments, India must assert its own voice—not merely echo others.
It is time to reimagine India's participation in global health governance. This calls for a more self-reliant, context-sensitive approach—one that integrates scientific innovation with traditional wisdom, and national priorities with global responsibilities. Health, after all, is not just the absence of disease. It is the expression of life in harmony—with nature, with society, and with oneself. India’s vision of healthcare must emerge from this understanding, not from the policy prescriptions of distant institutions whose credibility stands on increasingly shaky ground.