The United States is due to formally withdraw from the World Health Organization on Thursday, despite warnings that the move will affect both domestic and global health, and that it breaches a US law requiring Washington to pay the UN health body $260m (€222m) in outstanding contributions.
President Donald Trump announced the US decision to leave the organisation on the first day of his presidency in 2025 through an executive order. Under US legislation, a one-year notice period is required along with full payment of any unpaid fees before an exit can take effect, reports Breaking News.
On Thursday, a spokesperson for the US State Department said the WHO’s failure to contain, manage and share information had cost the US trillions of dollars, adding that the president had exercised his authority to halt future transfers of US government funding, assistance or resources to the organisation.
“The American people have paid more than enough to this organization, and this economic hit is beyond a down payment on any financial obligations to the organization,” the spokesperson said in an email, reports Breaking News.
Over the past year, many global health experts have called for the decision to be reconsidered, most recently WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
“I hope the US will reconsider and rejoin WHO,” he told reporters at a press conference earlier this month. “Withdrawing from the WHO is a loss for the United States, and it’s a loss for the rest of the world,” reports Breaking News.
The WHO has also said that the US has not yet paid the fees owed for 2024 and 2025. Member states are expected to discuss the US withdrawal and how it will be managed at the WHO’s executive board meeting in February, a WHO spokesperson told Reuters via email.
“This is a clear violation of U.S. law,” said Lawrence Gostin, founding director of the O’Neill Institute for Global Health Law at Georgetown University in Washington and a close observer of the WHO. “But Trump is highly likely to get away with it,” reports Breaking News.
Speaking to Reuters in Davos, Bill Gates, chair of the Gates Foundation, which is a major funder of global health initiatives and some WHO programmes, said he did not expect the US to reverse course in the near future.
“I don’t think the U.S. will be coming back to WHO in the near future,” he said, adding that he would continue to advocate for it when possible. “The world needs the World Health Organization,” reports Breaking News.
For the WHO, the US departure has triggered a budget crisis, resulting in the organisation halving its management team and scaling back its activities, with spending cuts across the agency.
Washington has traditionally been the UN health agency’s largest financial contributor, accounting for about 18% of its total funding. The WHO has also said it will reduce its workforce by around a quarter by the middle of this year, reports Breaking News.
The organisation said it had been working with the US and sharing information over the past year, but it remains unclear how that cooperation will continue in the future.
Global health experts warned that the decision poses risks for the US, the WHO and the wider world, reports Breaking News.
“The US withdrawal from WHO could weaken the systems and collaborations the world relies on to detect, prevent, and respond to health threats,” said Kelly Henning, public health programme lead at Bloomberg Philanthropies, a US-based non-profit, reports Breaking News.
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