Reforming the WHO isn’t possible; it’s doing what it was meant to do

This isn’t about health. It’s about control.

The image above is not about the World Health Organization’s (WHO) mishandling of the coronavirus. It’s from an article published in 2015, after the WHO botched their response to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. 1 2

You can see how far we’ve come since then. “Reform” of the WHO has a formula: Use failures as a cry for more. If only the WHO had more enforcement power, more laws and agreements, and more money,  it won’t happen again, they claim — while they simultaneously fearmonger about the inevitability of “the next pandemic.”

Can the WHO be reformed?

The House Select Subcommittee recently met to discuss whether the WHO could be reformed in the wake of mishandling COVID.3 The answer is no. The WHO has a long and well-known history of mishandling pandemics and outbreaks (even after  so-called reforms) including Ebola, H1N1 (swine flu),4 AIDS, 5 SARS, 6 and most recently COVID (the last two of which were tied to lab leaks 7 8 in China). There’s been mishandling of funds,9 accusations of corruption of the Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus 10, and findings of sexual assault by WHO staff when responding to an outbreak of Ebola in the Congo.11 Regarding the assault: The known perpetrators did leave the WHO, and the victims of assault by WHO employees were given $250 each, but only after they completed training courses on “income generating activities.”12 Is that reform?

The WHO has continued to grow and fail, with deadly results, after each misstep and crime. One of the U.S. delegates to the WHO, Loyce Pace from the Office of Global Affairs in the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), defended what she called past efforts at reform in the subcommittee meeting. But her idea of reform was not conducting investigations, restructuring, or replacing those at fault. Instead, she pointed to new committees formed in response to mistakes and tragedies, calling them “reform.” (Check out the SHF recap of the subcommittee hearing here.) And she continues to call on the U.S. and its people to give even more support to the WHO in the form of tax dollars and authority.

If you still need convincing that the organization has no intention of real reform, look to the recent reelection of Director General Tedros,13 from Marxist Ethiopia, who didn’t even have the vote of his home country. 14 Dr. Tedros — who is not a medical doctor, but a doctor of philosophy (Ph.D.) in community health — gave great deference to China on the COVID outbreak, including delayed declaration of a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC), and parroting Chinese claims that SARS-CoV-2 would not transmit from human to human. There’s a global consensus that under his leadership, the WHO mishandled yet another disease outbreak, this time amounting to the most devastating pandemic in a century, both in human lives and in economic terms. In other words, despite previous “reforms” that included new committees, more surveillance, greatly expanded scope through the 2005 amendments to the International Health Organization, and a growing bank account, the failures have only become more catastrophic in return. Is this reform?

There is no reform. The WHO is doing exactly what it was meant to do.

The spiral of history

In 1944, the head of the Rockefeller Foundation, Raymond B. Fosdick, stood before the American Public Health Association at a conference in New York City and declared, “A world health organization must inevitably be attached to any world peace organization.”15 He said this in the context of describing what he called deplorable health conditions in China that were a threat to us here in the United States. 

The WHO didn’t exist until 1948. There was no centralized international health organization of any sort until the turn of the 20th century because of the general desire of countries around the globe to keep to themselves and avoid loss of sovereignty. Once regional organizations started to appear, the only actions agreed upon were that countries would notify others if they had outbreaks, and that they would serve as clearinghouses for the exchange of information about epidemics. These offices had no enforcement power and existed only as a place for information exchange and support of governments during outbreaks. 

At the time of Fosdick’s comment (who was also not a medical doctor), there was an international organization called the League of Nations, which did have a health organization (LNHO), though other health organizations of the day, including Rockefeller Foundation’s own International Health Division, had more clout.

Shockingly, the U.S. was not a part of the League of Nations. This was a huge blow to President Woodrow Wilson because the league was his idea, proposed in the Treaty of Versailles which ended the first World War. The Senate voted twice not to join because provisions would override American sovereignty. 

We refused no assistance that we could possibly render. All the great energy and power of the Republic were put at the service of the good cause. We have not been ungenerous. We have been devoted to the cause of freedom, humanity, and civilization everywhere. Now we are asked, in the making of peace, to sacrifice our sovereignty in important respects, to involve ourselves almost without limit in the affairs of other nations and to yield up policies and rights which we have maintained throughout our history. We are asked to incur liabilities to an unlimited extent and furnish assets at the same time which no man can measure. I think it is not only our right but our duty to determine how far we shall go. Not only must we look carefully to see where we are being led into endless disputes and entanglements, but we must not forget that we have in this country millions of people of foreign birth and parentage. –Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, congressional speech, August 1919.

Despite lack of Senate support, Wilson continued to send American public health officials to the LNHO to work. (Remember the public health officers, like the CDC now, are under presidential control as an executive agency).

Wilson understood he needed the public on his side for his international interventions. He had campaigned under the slogan, “He kept us out of war,” but then chose to involve the U.S. in the very war he kept America out of. So in 1917, he created the Committee on Public Information, which many knew as the Creel Committee, and some newspapers of the time referred to as the Committee on Misinformation. It was created to convince Americans that getting involved in global affairs was a good idea. One writer described it as an “attempt to mobilize public opinion behind the war effort with every available form of mass communication.”16

There was no social media back then, so the Creel Committee used newspapers and movie theaters. “Creel, a former journalist, particularly targeted newspapers. He later estimated that the news division placed material in 20,000 newspaper columns each week during the war.”17 The Library of Congress tells us there were over 75,000 “engaged patriotic local residents” who were trained to give 4-minute speeches at movie theaters between changes of reels of film.18

To reach the public who couldn’t access newspapers or movies and saturate public consciousness with a “patriotic fervor,” they engaged the art community for paintings, posters, sculptures, exhibitions, and more.19

FDR, who was president after Wilson, learned from Wilson’s mistakes and was able to get Congress on board to create The United Nations to replace the defunct League of Nations. The public health outreach arm, of course, is named the World Health Organization.

In this history, you can clearly see the seeds of things like the Biden administration’s failed Disinformation Governance Board and the commandeering of social media to spread the propaganda of destructive and unwanted coronavirus policy.

No country has ever exited the WHO… yet 

The WHO Constitution does not have a provision for withdrawal. Neither does the U.N. Charter. This was intentional because countries left the League of Nations as a method of political blackmail or to avoid their obligations.

The U.S., however, when joining the WHO, put on record our own path for leaving: one-year notice and all dues paid. 

Many know that Trump started the process of leaving the WHO, but the Biden administration swiftly reversed course after he took office.

There has been only one other attempt to leave. In 1948, just after joining, Soviet Union countries announced they were leaving the WHO. But Brock Chrisholm from Canada, who was head at the time, very strategically never accepted their resignation and let them back in years later in the 1950s after the death of Stalin.20

Let’s pause for a moment to reflect: The only attempts to leave the WHO in its 75-year history were by Communists who said the U.S. had too much influence, and then by the U.S. who said Communist China had too much influence. What does that tell us about the organization’s leadership, policy, and dynamics? What does it tell us about the ability of the organization to be reformed? The pendulum has swung from left to right over 75 years, but at its core, the organization has been ineffective and corrupted as two cold-warring ideologies have fought for control.

So this plan for global health security through a pandemic treaty and amendments to the IHR isn’t the beginning of a new era, it’s the end of a long game plan that has been in place for decades, at least. It’s not about health, it’s about control.

  1. https://oneill.law.georgetown.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Briefing-Paper-EBOLA-THE-WORLD-HEALTH-ORGANIZATION-AND-BEYOND-TOWARD-A-FRAMEWORK-FOR-GLOBAL-HEALTH-SECURITY.pdf ↩︎
  2. https://www.cleveland.com/world/2014/10/un_we_botched_response_to_the.html ↩︎
  3. https://oversight.house.gov/hearing/reforming-the-who-ensuring-global-health-security-and-accountability/ ↩︎
  4. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7122988/ ↩︎
  5. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6137778/ ↩︎
  6. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7096887/ ↩︎
  7. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC403836/ ↩︎
  8. https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2019/jan/18/senior-world-health-organization-official-accused-of-using-ebola-cash-to-pay-for-girlfriends-flight-corruption-racism-sexism ↩︎
  9. https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2019/jan/18/senior-world-health-organization-official-accused-of-using-ebola-cash-to-pay-for-girlfriends-flight-corruption-racism-sexism ↩︎
  10. https://borkena.com/2022/01/20/the-case-against-whos-director-general-dr-tedros-adhanom/ ↩︎
  11. https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/who-heartbroken-by-congo-sex-abuse-probe-findings-2021-09-28/ ↩︎
  12. https://www.euronews.com/2023/11/14/world-health-organization-paid-compensation-money-to-sexual-abuse-victims-in-congo ↩︎
  13. https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/ethiopia-accuses-who-chief-links-rebellious-tigrayan-forces-2022-01-14/ ↩︎
  14. https://www.reuters.com/world/whos-tedros-seen-running-unopposed-top-job-despite-ethiopia-snub-sources-2021-09-17/ ↩︎
  15. “Give and Take,” Transcript Telegram, Holyoke, Massachusetts, Sat, Oct 7, 1944, Page 4. ↩︎
  16. https://firstamendment.mtsu.edu/article/committee-on-public-information/ ↩︎
  17. https://firstamendment.mtsu.edu/article/committee-on-public-information/ ↩︎
  18. https://www.loc.gov/exhibitions/world-war-i-american-experiences/about-this-exhibition/over-here/surveillance-and-censorship/four-minute-men/ ↩︎
  19. http://www.oldmagazinearticles.com/George_Creel_WW1_posters ↩︎
  20. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5055806/ ↩︎

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Jill Hines

Directory of Advocacy
A former banker turned homeschool mom, Jill Hines began researching alternatives to conventional medicine in 2010 and what she discovered changed the trajectory of her life. She corrected a worrisome health issue, and embraced a natural approach to wellness. Advocating for informed consent and parental rights became a full-time mission when she joined the board of the Georgia Coalition for Vaccine Choice and later became the co-director of Health Freedom Louisiana. Due to her advocacy efforts during the COVID crisis, Jill was one of 25 Louisianans selected by Central City News as “a hero of the constitutional crisis.” She was also presented the Impact Award for Outstanding Public Service from the government watchdog organization Citizens for a New Louisiana. Jill now represents hundreds of millions of Americans who experienced censorship due to the Biden administration's efforts to suppress disfavored speech as a plaintiff in the landmark lawsuit Missouri v. Biden. Jill holds a marketing degree from Louisiana Tech University and now passionately “sells” health freedom full-time. Serving as Stand for Health Freedom’s advocacy director provides an incredible opportunity to advance the growing movement to preserve the sacred right to refuse unwanted medical interventions for ourselves and our children without fear of retribution.
“We have lived through a terrifying societal, psychological, and medical experiment which afforded us a knowledge that our forefathers tried to impart and we can no longer ignore: Our freedom is tenuous. For our children’s sake, the time is now to take a stand for health freedom.”

Chrissy Scott

Executive Assistant and Social Media Manager

A labor and delivery nurse with a lifelong passion for maternal and fetal health, Chrissy Scott left her job of 19 years after learning the truth about the harms caused by the medical system. In 2009, she was mandated by her employer to receive the H1N1 vaccine during her first trimester of pregnancy with her second child. She was assured that the vaccine was “safe and effective” for pregnant women, but her son was born with a kidney defect that could have been fatal. She didn’t connect the dots to vaccine injury until several years later when the declining health of her oldest son drove her to seek answers outside of allopathic medicine.

This personal journey ignited in her a new passion for truth and transparency in health care. As SHF’s Executive Assistant, Chrissy facilitates communication and local advocacy initiatives alongside Leah Wilson for their home state of Indiana. She also manages and creates graphics for SHF’s social media accounts and the website’s swag shop.

Chrissy earned her nursing degree from Anderson University and served her entire career at her local hospital. While she’s no longer a floor nurse, her five very active boys frequently test her nursing skills! She homeschools her children and has been co-owner of a successful home décor sign business with her sister.

“Parents, being the experts on their own children, are best suited to make decisions for the well-being of their family. To do this properly, they must be given full and accurate information and be free from force or coercion.”

Ellen Chappelle

Writer/Editor

Ellen Chappelle serves as SHF’s resident wordsmith. A seasoned writer and editor, she’s enthusiastic about ensuring that our content is clear, concise, and inspiring.

Ellen is most energized by working on projects that transform lives. A truth seeker as well as a journalist, she’s disturbed by the lack of accuracy in today’s media and determined to help share fact rather than fiction. And having found greater healing with alternative approaches, she’s also passionate about preserving our freedom to make informed health choices.

Past projects include serving as regional editor of a dog magazine, color and trend specialist for a small cosmetics company, arts columnist, newspaper reporter, ghostwriter, and creator of website content for artists and small businesses.

With a degree in journalism and theatre, Ellen is also a performer. She enjoyed singing and dancing on a cruise ship and traveling with a national musical theatre tour, as well as recording industrial videos, television commercials, and radio voiceovers. She also creates handcrafted jewelry in wire, chain maille, and fused glass.

“Despite what some would have us believe, the fact remains that this nation was founded on biblical principles by people who wanted freedom to worship God and live their lives without government involvement. It’s never been more critical to fight for those rights.”

LEAH WILSON

Executive Director and Co-founder

An attorney with a background in complex litigation and advocacy, Leah Wilson is passionate about children’s health and has researched and worked on child welfare issues for more than a decade.

The overmedication of children in foster care as a form of behavior management is what compelled Leah to become an advocate and foster parent. During her time as a court-appointed special advocate for abused and neglected children, Leah witnessed the rampant use of psychiatric drugs among foster kids. She also discovered that, in addition to many extensive requirements, the state had a policy that all foster children and foster families be fully vaccinated, without exception. Through her involvement in law, health and the foster care system, it became abundantly clear to Leah that the single most important issue affecting child welfare in the United States is the practice of one-size-fits-all medicine via medical mandates. This motivated Leah to expand her advocacy beyond foster care to all children nationwide and to start Stand for Health Freedom (SHF) in 2019.

A graduate of the Saint Louis University School of Law, Leah holds dual bachelor degrees in political science and Spanish from Indiana University. In addition to her advocacy work with SHF, Leah is the owner and former operations director of MaxLiving Indy, one of the largest natural health centers in the Midwest. She is also an educator on holistic health as well as a sought-after speaker on issues ranging from religious rights to greening your home.

“Parental rights and religious freedom are God-given natural rights that cannot arbitrarily be taken away by government authorities. Parents are the single most important factor in a child’s success; I stand in full support of this sacred relationship.”

Sayer JI

Director and Co-founder

Sayer Ji is a widely recognized researcher, author, lecturer, activist, and educator on natural health modalities. Among his many roles, he is an advisor to Stand for Health Freedom, a reviewer and editor of the International Journal of Human Nutrition and Functional Medicine, an advisory board member of the National Health Federation, a steering committee member of the Global GMO Free Coalition, and the co-founder and CEO of Systome Biomed Inc., a revolutionary scientific validation framework.

Most notably, Sayer is the founder of Greenmedinfo.com, the world’s most widely referenced, evidence-based natural health resource of its kind. He founded the platform in 2008 to provide an open access, evidence-based resource supporting natural and integrative modalities. Today, Greenmedinfo.com has more than a million visits per month, serving as a trusted resource on myriad health and wellness topics to physicians, healthcare practitioners, clinicians, researchers and consumers worldwide.

Sayer attended Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, where he studied under the notable American philosopher Dr. Bruce W. Wilshire. He received a Bachelor of Arts in philosophy in 1995, with a focus on the philosophy of science. His new book, Regenerate: Unlocking Your Body’s Radical Resilience through the New Biology, was released in March 2020 and is an Amazon bestseller.

“I truly believe that education will be our greatest shield against accelerating the erosion of civil liberties, including the right to bodily sovereignty, as well as the greatest catalyst for positive change on this planet moving forward.”

Bailey Kuykendoll

Associate Director

Designer and visual marketer Bailey Kuykendoll began advocating for health and religious freedom and parental rights in 2014 after learning she was pregnant. A self-described skeptic, she’s not afraid to ask questions and do copious amounts of research to reach her own conclusions.

She’s also not afraid of hard work. As SHF’s Relationship Manager, Bailey truly keeps the organizational boat afloat. Working closely with health freedom advocates in each state, she ensures that SHF has campaigns for health-freedom-related bills and petitions on our website and across social media, spreading the word to encourage people to contact their legislators. She builds campaigns, graphics, website pages, and relationships.

Bailey earned a design degree from Harrington Institute of Design in 2008. She then served as a production assistant on several shows for HGTV, followed by working behind the scenes on the X Factor, small indie films, music videos, and documentaries. Bailey joined Health Freedom Florida after moving to the East Coast, becoming co-president of the grassroots organization in 2019. While at Health Freedom Florida, she successfully filed a state bill designed to stop discrimination based on your health status. She joined SHF in the fall of 2020.

“God placed a calling on my heart back in 2008 to be a part of something bigger for Him. Twelve years later, the opportunity came knocking to help others lean into their natural-born rights and take a stand for themselves and their families. I knew this is where I was called to be, and I have never looked back.”

Valerie Borek

POLICY ANALYST

Valerie Borek is a passionate advocate for health rights and family privacy. A mother of two with degrees in law and biochemistry, she is perfectly positioned to lead SHF advocates through complex health-rights policy. Her work is guided by a love for American values, uncovering truth, and a passion for empowering others. Valerie has served as SHF’s policy analyst since 2021.

Valerie’s understanding of the value of freedom to make one’s own health care choices is not just academic. Health freedom has kept her boys alive and thriving. Her choice to have home births jump-started her advocacy for health privacy. Her eldest son survived a rare and deadly cancer because her family was able to navigate medical care while holding onto values that were sometimes at odds with recommendations.

Before joining SHF, Valerie specialized in health and parenting rights at her boutique law firm, especially surrounding birth and vaccine rights. She advocated for informed consent in health care and transparent food labeling in her state. She helped found the Birth Rights Bar Association and was honored to present their argument to the Delaware Supreme Court that midwifery is not the practice of medicine, in support of a trailblazing midwife.

“Health is the foundation of how we show up in this world to love, serve, and create. Americans are blessed to live in a country that gets stronger the more we protect fundamental rights, like informed consent and privacy, so individuals and families can thrive.”

Mary Katherine LaCroix

DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT AND NONPROFIT ADMINISTRATION

Mary Katherine LaCroix became involved with SHF as a volunteer in 2019 when the religious exemption for childhood vaccines was at risk in her home state of New Jersey. She believes strongly that parents have the responsibility for their children’s health, education, and faith formation and that only they have the right to make medical decisions and manage their care.

She has worked in fundraising for more than 25 years at various educational, cultural, human services, and political organizations. A graduate of the University of Scranton, she holds a degree in History and English Literature.

Mary Katherine is thrilled to have this opportunity to work with and help grow SHF, believing that together we can achieve even greater impact in protecting our rights and caring for our loved ones. She enjoys spending time with her husband, two children and large extended family, as well as volunteering to support the special needs community.

“Parents are taught that they must trust the experts. That’s what we did, until we learned that the experts can be wrong and don’t always know what is best for your child. Parents should instead feel empowered by their natural, God-given ability to advocate and care for their children. SHF is here to give them the tools to do just that.”

Sheila Ealey

Political Analyst

Dr. Sheila Lewis Ealey is the founder and former director of the Creative Learning Center of Louisiana, a therapeutic day school for children who are on the autism spectrum or struggling with other nonverbal intellectual disabilities. The wife of a former U.S. Coast Guard Officer, she is also the mother of four children. Her son was diagnosed with severe autism spectrum disorder at 18 months. He is now a young man and considered moderate and emerging.

Sheila and her twins were featured in the documentary “Vaxxed.” She has traveled extensively, advocating for medical freedom. She continues to educate disenfranchised parents about their fundamental rights to religious and philosophical exemptions, their ability to live sustainably on a limited budget, and the importance of nutrition and biomedical interventions for optimum health with autism. She also writes individual homeschool curriculums for parents of children with autism or intellectual disorders. Sheila is a trustee for the Autism Trust, USA, and on the board of directors of Children’s Health Defense.

Over the past 20 years, she has educated herself to use natural healing modalities for the body and brain. Her formal education includes degrees in communication, special education curriculum, and a doctorate in Educational Leadership in Special Education. Sheila serves as an assistant content advisor and political analyst for SHF.

“It is not the Constitution’s job to protect our liberties, as it is not a philosophical document but a legal one. Its purpose is to limit the powers and authority of our federal government in hopes of preventing an intrusion upon our unalienable rights. We are obliged to maintain our government within its limits.”

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