The United States has formally completed its long-planned withdrawal from the World Health Organisation (WHO), ending a 78-year partnership that made Washington a founding member and, for decades, the agency’s largest single contributor.

In a joint announcement on January 22, 2026 US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. confirmed the exit following the conclusion of a one-year notice period triggered by an executive order signed by President Donald Trump shortly after he returned to office in 2025.

The move concludes American participation in the United Nations’ specialised health body in Geneva, ending US funding, membership, and representation on WHO governing and technical committees. Officials say all US personnel assigned to the organisation have been recalled.

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The Trump administration has framed the withdrawal as a necessary correction to what it calls chronic failures in the WHO’s governance and emergency responses.

US officials have criticized the organisation’s pandemic performance, particularly during COVID-19, alleging delays in declaring emergencies and insufficient transparency.

They argue that the United States will pursue global health goals through bilateral partnerships, direct collaborations with other nations, and engagement with non-governmental and private sector actors rather than through multilateral institutions.

Public health specialists and WHO leaders have expressed alarm over the departure, warning that it could weaken global disease surveillance, pandemic preparedness, and coordinated outbreak responses.

As the United States exits, it also halts financial contributions that for decades funded vaccination campaigns, emergency response teams, and health systems in low- and middle-income countries.

The WHO says it has acknowledged the departure with regret, emphasising the challenge of filling the sudden funding gap and the potential impact on its work worldwide.

PAH/MA