WHO chief still hopes Trump administration will rethink its withdrawal

World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Thursday that he still hopes the U.S. administration will reconsider its decision to withdraw from the organisation next month, warning that its exit would be a loss for the world.

In one of his first actions as president, Donald Trump signed an order to withdraw from the WHO, citing the agency’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and its close relationship with China. The withdrawal is set to take effect on 22 January 2026.

Responding to reporters, Tedros said, “There are things you can get only at the WHO and nowhere else. These issues are health security issues, and that’s why we were asking the U.S. to reconsider, because the world can only be secure if we are all on the same platform.”

“Their absence from the WHO is going to be a lose-lose: the U.S. will lose, and the rest of the world will also lose,” he added.

Tedros said U.S. criticisms of the organisation were unfounded, noting that the WHO had addressed these concerns, including through cost-cutting reforms. On allegations of mismanaging the pandemic, he said lessons had been learned.

He also stated that Washington, the WHO’s largest donor, should contribute less in order to reduce the organisation’s dependence on a single donor.

Tedros further noted that, despite initial instructions from the Trump administration for U.S. health officials not to contact the WHO, they had regularly sought information, which the organisation had provided.

“We have given them any information they need, because at the end of the day the WHO’s existence is to make the American people safe and the rest of the world safe,” Tedros said.

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