The recently appointed US president, Donald Trump, has declared that the US will no longer be a member of the World Health Organization (WHO).
Additionally, Trump issued an executive order halting foreign development aid for ninety days while it is reviewed.
Among the reasons for the US withdrawal, he stated in his text on Monday, “the WHO’s failure to adopt urgently needed reforms, its inability to demonstrate independence from the inappropriate political influence of WHO member states, and its mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic that arose out of Wuhan, China, and other global health crises.”
Trump claimed that the WHO had not acted independently of the “inappropriate political influence of WHO member states” and that the United States was being asked to make “unfairly onerous payments” that were out of proportion to the amounts contributed by other, bigger nations, like China.
“Everyone takes advantage of the United States; World Health took advantage of us.” Shortly after taking office for a second term, Trump declared, “It’s not going to happen anymore,” when he signed an executive order on the pullout.
As the Covid-19 pandemic progressed, Trump’s administration officially started to withdraw from the WHO in July 2020, continuing his longstanding criticism of the UN health body. However, as one of his first moves after assuming the White House four years ago, then-President Joe Biden stopped the United States from leaving the organization that oversees the global response to health crises.
With over 18% of the WHO’s total funding, the US is the organization’s largest donor. The most current two-year budget for WHO was $6.8 billion for 2024–2025.
As a result of the action, the United States will no longer fund the United Nations health organization and will withdraw from it within a year. Experts concur that its departure would be detrimental to both the Geneva agency and global health in general.
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