The United States officially left the World Health Organization on 22 January, triggering a financial and operational crisis at the United Nations health agency. The move follows a year of warnings from global health experts that a U.S. exit could undermine public health at home and abroad.
President Donald Trump gave notice of the departure via an executive order on his first day in office in 2025, citing failures in WHO’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to a press release from the U.S. Health and State Departments, the U.S. will only work with the WHO in a limited fashion in order to effectuate the withdrawal.
A senior U.S. health official confirmed that the country has “no plans to participate as an observer, and we have no plans of rejoining,” adding that Washington will work directly with other nations on disease surveillance and public health priorities.
The departure comes amid a dispute over U.S.-owed fees, estimated at $260 million for 2024 and 2025.
U.S. was supposed to give one-year notice, which it did, and during that period pay all outstanding fees - around $260 million - before departing.
A State Department spokesperson said earlier on Thursday that “the American people have paid more than enough,” and that future funding transfers would be paused. The Health and Human Services Department said the organization had cost the U.S. trillions of dollars.
Witnesses reported that the U.S. flag was removed from outside WHO headquarters in Geneva on Thursday (22 January).
The move forms part of a broader trend of U.S. withdrawals from UN organisations, raising concerns that President Trump’s recently launched Board of Peace could further weaken multilateral institutions.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, along with global health experts including Bill Gates, urged Washington to reconsider.
Gates, speaking at World Economic Forum 2026 in Davos, Switzerland, said, “The world needs the World Health Organization,” while Georgetown University’s Lawrence Gostin described the move as “a clear violation of U.S. law,” though Trump is “highly likely to get away with it.”
The U.S. exit has left the WHO facing a financial crisis, having contributed roughly 18% of its budget.
The agency plans to cut management staff by half and reduce overall staffing by about a quarter by mid‑year.
Experts warn that this may weaken global systems to detect, prevent, and respond to health threats.
Kelly Henning of Bloomberg Philanthropies said, “The U.S. withdrawal from WHO could weaken the systems and collaborations the world relies on.”
WHO member states are set to discuss the U.S. departure at the executive board meeting in February. While the agency says it has continued sharing information with Washington, the exact terms of future collaboration remain unclear.
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