US officially withdraws from the World Health Organization

The US’s withdrawal from the World Health Organization (WHO) has been officially announced by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

The US has not a member of the WHO since it joined as a founding member in 1948, despite US President Donald Trump having stated his intention to do so in 2020 during his first term in office.

The WHO’s “failures during the COVID-19 pandemic” were primarily to blame for the withdrawal, according to Rubio and Kennedy, a vaccine sceptic.

Rubio and Kennedy stated that US support for the WHO would only be used to effectuate our withdrawal and protect the health and safety of the American people.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO’s chief executive, stated earlier this month that the organization had made cuts to address the funding gaps brought on by the US withdrawal.

According to Stephane Dujarric, a spokesman for the UN, “for all intents and purposes,” the US is “no longer participating in the World Health Organization,” but “some legal details will likely have to be worked out.”

“We want to see every country be a full participant in the work of the World Health Organization,” Dujarric said.

He said, “Health issues are present if there is an issue that is clearly, that knows no borders, that doesn’t respect territorial integrity,” so to speak.

“Viruses, non-communicable diseases, and all of these issues need and should be resolved through international cooperation. The best place to do it, he continued.

Withdrawal “makes us all more vulnerable and reckless”

President Trump announced that he planned to leave the United States from the Geneva-based WHO on January 20, 2025, the first day his second term in office officially began. He has received criticism for his response to COVID-19, including from his own top health officials. The US did not, however, implement the withdrawal until this week due to a provisional clause.

Steven Solomon, the WHO’s head of legal affairs, stated earlier this month to reporters that the organization’s founders did not include a withdrawal clause because they believed it to be a “truly universal organization that would make the world safer.”

Solomon claimed that the US had given two requirements: giving one year’s notice and meeting its “financial obligations… in full for the current fiscal year,” and also that the US was “in arrears on its payments” for 2024 and 2025.

Public health advocate Lucky Tran responded to the US’s withdrawal by saying that “the WHO has played a huge role in bringing countries together to reduce death and disease at an unprecedented scale.”

“We can only improve it by continuing to participate, but it is by no means perfect. We are all more vulnerable because of withdrawal, Tran continued.

Prior to the US withdrawal, the WHO, which includes all UN members but Liechtenstein, which has a population under 50 000, frequently coordinates health issues that transcend international borders.