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The United States officially withdrew from the World Health Organization on Thursday after a year of warnings that this move would negatively impact public health both in the U. S. and around the world. They stated that their decision was due to issues in how the U. N. health agency managed the COVID-19 outbreak. President Donald Trump announced the U. S. would leave the organization on his first day in office in 2025, using an executive order. A press statement from the U. S. Health and State Departments indicated that the U. S. will have only limited interactions with the WHO to facilitate the withdrawal. A senior health official mentioned, "We do not intend to take part as an observer, and we do not plan to return. " The U. S. intends to collaborate directly with other nations, instead of going through an international organization, on monitoring diseases and other health issues.
According to U. S. law, a one-year notice was required along with the payment of all outstanding fees, which total about $260 million, before the departure. However, a U. S. State Department official argued that there is no requirement in the law stating that any payments must be made before leaving. A State Department spokesperson mentioned in an email earlier on Thursday, "The American taxpayers have already contributed enough. " The Department of Health and Human Services confirmed in a document issued on Thursday that the government had stopped its financial contributions to the agency. Trump had used his authority to hold back any future U. S. government funding for the WHO, citing that it had cost the U. S. trillions of dollars, according to the HHS spokesperson. Witnesses reported that the U. S. flag was taken down from outside the WHO headquarters in Geneva on Thursday.
In the past few weeks, the U. S. has begun to withdraw from several other U. N. organizations, and some are concerned that Trump’s new Board of Peace might weaken the United Nations overall. Some critics of the WHO have also suggested creating a new agency to replace it, but a proposal document that the Trump administration reviewed last year instead recommended that the U. S. advocate for reforms and take a leadership role within the WHO. Over the last year, numerous global health experts, including WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus most recently, have called for a reassessment. The WHO also stated that the U. S. has not yet made the payments it owes for the years 2024 and 2025. A spokesperson for the WHO stated that member countries will discuss the U. S. exit and its implications at the WHO’s executive board in February.
“This clearly breaks U. S. law,” commented Lawrence Gostin, the founding director of the O’Neill Institute for Global Health Law at Georgetown University in Washington, who closely observes the WHO. “Yet, it seems Trump is quite likely to evade any consequences. ” Bill Gates, the chair of the Gates Foundation, which funds many global health projects and some of the WHO's activities, told Reuters in Davos that he did not foresee the U. S. changing its mind soon. Gates mentioned that he would still push for the U. S. to return. “The world needs the World Health Organization,” he stated. The U. S. exit has led to a financial crisis causing the WHO to reduce its management team by half and limit its activities, decreasing budgets throughout the organization. Historically, the U. S. has been the largest financial supporter of the U. N. health agency, providing about 18% of its total funding. The WHO also plans to cut approximately a quarter of its workforce by the middle of this year.
The organization noted that it has been cooperating with the U. S. and exchanging information over the past year. However, it was not clear how this cooperation would continue moving forward. Health experts around the world indicated that this situation could pose dangers for the U. S., the WHO, and globally. “The U. S. leaving the WHO may diminish the systems and partnerships that are essential for identifying, stopping, and addressing health risks,” stated Kelly Henning, who leads the public health program at Bloomberg Philanthropies, a non-profit organization based in the USA.
