The United States officially left the World Health Organization on Thursday after a year of warnings that doing so would hurt public health in the U.S. and globally, saying its decision reflected failures in the U.N. health agency’s management 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.
“We have no plans to participate as an observer, and we have no plans of rejoining,” a senior government health official said. The U.S. said it plans to work directly with other countries – rather than through an international organization – on disease surveillance and other public health priorities.
“W.H.O IS IRREPLACEABLE AND INDISPENSABLE”
A former lawmaker, Senator Shehu Sani, has described the official withdrawal of the United States from the World Health Organisation as an “unfortunate” development for global stability, warning that the move threatens the health security of the world’s most vulnerable populations.
In a statement posted to his X (formerly Twitter) account on Friday, Sani emphasised the critical role the organisation plays in maintaining global health standards.
The United States officially completed its withdrawal from the UN health agency on Thursday, January 22, 2026, following a year-long process initiated by the Trump administration.
The exit marks the end of a 78-year membership for the WHO’s historically largest financial contributor.
Reacting to the news, Sani highlighted the organisation’s reach into areas often ignored by major powers.
He said, “The Withdrawal of the US from the @WHO is unfortunate. For decades, the WHO has been a global institution and instrument for tackling global health challenges in all corners of the globe and in the remotest communities.
“WHO is irreplaceable and indispensable.”
Sani specifically called on the European Union, China, and Rich Arab Gulf Nations.
“I wish to call on Europe, China and rich Arab Gulf countries to fill up the financial Gap left behind by the US exit,” he added, signalling a shift in the expected burden of global health leadership.
DISPUTE OVER US-OWED FEES
Under U.S. law, it was supposed to give one-year notice and pay all outstanding fees – around $260 million – before departing.
But a U.S. State Department official disputed that the statute contains a condition that any payment needs to be made before withdrawal.
“The American people have paid more than enough,” a State Department spokesperson said in an email earlier on Thursday.
The Department of Health and Human Services said in a document released on Thursday that the government had ended its funding contributions to the agency. Trump had exercised his authority to pause the future transfer of any U.S. government resources to the WHO because the organization had cost the U.S. trillions of dollars, the HHS spokesperson said.
The U.S. flag had been removed from outside the WHO headquarters in Geneva on Thursday, according to witnesses.
In recent weeks, the U.S. has moved to exit a number of other United Nations organizations, and some fear that Trump’s recently launched Board of Peace could undermine the UN as a whole
Several WHO critics have also proposed setting up a new agency to replace the organization, although a proposal document reviewed by the Trump administration last year instead suggested the U.S. push for reforms and American leadership at WHO.
QUICK RETURN UNLIKELY
Over the last year, many global health experts have urged a rethink, including most recently WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
The WHO also said the U.S. has not yet paid the fees it owes for 2024 and 2025. Member states are set to discuss the U.S. departure and how it will be handled at the WHO’s executive board in February, a WHO spokesperson said.
“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, a close observer of the WHO. “But Trump is highly likely to get away with it.”
REUTERS/ANN
