U.S. Withdrawal from WHO

by Bianca Carvalho

In the beginning of the year, U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on January 20th to initiate the country's withdrawal from the World Health Organization (WHO). This decision sparked significant tension within the organization and among other nations, as it led to a reduction in WHO’s funding and weakened both the organization itself and global health governance.

The note published by the White House states that the withdrawal was due to "the way WHO handled the Covid-19 pandemic, the failure to adopt urgently needed reforms, and its inability to demonstrate independence from the inappropriate political influence of WHO member states." Additionally, the note highlights the current government's dissatisfaction with payments made to the organization, stating that "WHO continues to demand unfairly onerous payments from the United States, far out of proportion with other countries’ assessed payments."

The US is the biggest donor to the organization. During the 2022–2023 biennium the US contributed US$ 1.284 billion. Also, the share of US funding of US$706 million in the WHO financing, represents 10%. In November last year, during the G20 in Brazil, WHO launched its first Investment Round in order to raise funds for WHO’s Fourteenth General Program of Work (GPW 14). Hence, the decision of the withdrawal had a great impact on the WHO’s funding, as the organization was already struggling to raise more money. 

During the WHO Executive Board meeting in February this year, several countries expressed concerns over the U.S. withdrawal, highlighting its impact on the organization’s funding and ongoing initiatives. This raises a crucial question: How dependent is the World Health Organization on a single member state? Could this withdrawal mark the beginning of the end for WHO?

Additionally, one of the major concerns regarding the U.S. withdrawal is the global surveillance of diseases. WHO’s monitoring of infectious diseases relies on data provided by its member states. Hence, during the WHO press conference on global health on February 12, 2025, journalists raised numerous questions about the potential for information gaps resulting from the U.S. withdrawal.

According to Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, Director of the Department of Epidemic and Pandemic Preparedness and Prevention at WHO, the US is reporting cases of avian influenza through IHR Channels and the US CDC is reporting influenza data through the WHO global platforms. 

However, she affirmed that “the communication from CDC stopped around the 24th of January. We hope that this exchange resumes soon. We are continuing to reach out to our colleagues and the US government agencies. We haven't heard back from them, but we will continue to reach out, and we hope again that that exchange resumes”.

Despite reports of avian influenza cases, the pause in information sharing from the U.S. to WHO raises concerns about the organization’s ability to monitor, prevent, and combat potential pandemics in the future.

Following the steps of Donald Trump, the president of Argentina, Javier Milei, announced on February 5, 2025,  that Argentina would withdraw from WHO. He justified the withdrawal citing “profound differences in health management, especially due to the pandemic, which led us to the longest confinement in the history of humanity”.Additionally, the Presidential Spokesperson, Manuel Adorni, stated: “We Argentines are not going to allow an international organisation to intervene in our sovereignty, much less in our health”. 

This situation poses a threat to global health governance and collaboration. As more conservative leaders take power, tensions rise over the future of global health—particularly the role and stability of the WHO. This year and next, several countries in Latin America and beyond will hold presidential elections, which could either signal renewed hope for global health governance or mark the beginning of the end for international health cooperation.