The United States has formally withdrawn from the World Health Organization (WHO), marking a significant rupture between Washington and the UN’s global health agency and leaving a major funding gap in the organisation’s operations.
The exit follows an executive order signed by President Donald Trump a year ago, in which he accused the WHO of being overly deferential to China during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The US Department of Health and Human Services said the withdrawal was driven by what it described as the WHO’s mishandling of the pandemic, resistance to institutional reform, and susceptibility to political pressure from member states.
The WHO has strongly rejected those accusations.
Its Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, described the US decision as a loss not only for the organisation but for global public health, including Americans.
He highlighted the WHO’s long-standing role in combating polio, HIV/AIDS, maternal mortality, and tobacco-related diseases, as well as coordinating responses to international health emergencies.
The withdrawal comes amid fragile global health recovery efforts following Covid-19.
In response to the pandemic, WHO member states negotiated a new international pandemic treaty aimed at improving preparedness, ensuring faster responses, and promoting fairer sharing of vaccines and treatments.
The treaty was adopted in April last year by all member states except the United States.
Historically, the US has been one of the WHO’s largest financial contributors.
However, it failed to pay its assessed contributions for 2024 and 2025, triggering large-scale job losses within the organisation.
WHO officials estimate US arrears at about $260m, but Washington has said it does not consider itself obliged to pay the outstanding amount.
US authorities confirmed that all government funding to the WHO has been terminated, American staff and contractors have been recalled from WHO offices worldwide, and hundreds of cooperative programmes have been suspended.
In a joint statement, US Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy and Secretary of State Marco Rubio accused the organisation of abandoning its core mission and acting against US interests.
They added that future US engagement with the WHO would be limited to managing the withdrawal process and protecting domestic public health.
While the US said it would pursue bilateral arrangements with other countries for disease surveillance and pathogen sharing, officials were unable to provide details of any agreements already in place.
On global disease control efforts such as polio eradication and HIV prevention, US officials said Washington would rely on partnerships with non-governmental and faith-based organisations, though no specific arrangements were announced.
They also could not confirm whether the US would continue participating in the annual global influenza vaccine development process, a cornerstone of international disease surveillance.
The WHO said the US withdrawal will be discussed at its executive board meeting scheduled for early February, adding that the organisation would act in line with decisions taken by its governing bodies.
Public health experts warn that the US exit could weaken global coordination at a time when pandemic threats, antimicrobial resistance, and climate-related health risks are growing.
Several studies have already criticised the US pandemic response as slow and fragmented, arguing that delayed lockdowns, inconsistent mask policies, and politicisation of public health guidance contributed to higher mortality rates during Covid-19.
Despite the breakdown in relations, the WHO reiterated that decades of cooperation between the organisation and the United States have saved millions of lives worldwide and expressed hope that Washington may yet reconsider its decision in the interest of global health security.
