African countries are set to lose key financing for life-saving healthcare programmes after President Donald Trump ordered a US exit from the World Health Organization and put a freeze on disbursement of all foreign aid for 90 days pending a review.

In a flurry of executive orders signed on Monday, Trump initiated a plan to exit the global health agency whose biggest donor is Washington.

Trump accused the WHO of continuing to “demand unfairly onerous payments from the United States, far out of proportion with other countries’ assessed payments”. Trump argued China has a population of 1.4 billion, far more than the US, yet contributes nearly 90 per cent less to the WHO.

Trump also suspended the disbursement of all US foreign aid for 90 days pending a review of “programmatic efficiencies” and ensuring that disbursements are “aligned with the foreign policy of the president of the United States”.

He argued that the “foreign aid industry and bureaucracy are not aligned with American interests and in many cases antithetical to American values”.

African Union Commission chairman Moussa Faki Mahamat said he was dismayed to learn of the US government’s plan to withdraw from the WHO.