Trump Withdraws from the World Health Organization

In his first day in office, President Donald Trump signed a flurry of executive orders, including withdrawing the United States from the World Health Organization (WHO). In the executive order, he highlights the role of the WHO in mishandling the COVID-19 pandemic and the need for reform of what Trump calls “inappropriate political influence of WHO member states,” particularly China.

Leaders from the WHO responded with a statement saying that the organization hopes the United States will reconsider. “WHO plays a crucial role in protecting the health and security of the world’s people, including Americans, by addressing the root causes of disease, building stronger health systems, and detecting, preventing and responding to health emergencies, including disease outbreaks, often in dangerous places where others cannot go,” the statement said.

Carl Scmid, executive director, HIV+Hepatitis Policy Institute, Washington, D.C., in an interview with Managed Healthcare Executive said this move to withdraw from the WHO is “retribution for some of the actions that the WHO took during the COVID-19 pandemic that Trump didn’t agree with.

“I think it was a negotiating tool and President Trump has been pretty upfront. A lot of his statements are negotiating tools,” he said. “We’ve been down this road before, and I think that they worked something out in the last administration. I hope that they will continue to work something out this time. [The United States] needs to be at the table. We benefit from WHO work as well.”

In an opinion article published on BMJ today, several health policy leaders — including Larry Gostin, J.D., a professor of global health law at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. — said that withdrawing from the WHO is a global health crisis in the making.

The health policy leaders pointed out that withdrawing from the WHO not just undermines the organization’s programs, but also America’s influence in the world. “This severing of ties between the world’s largest economy and its foremost public health body represents a major setback for health diplomacy, scientific collaboration, and funding. The repercussions will ripple across borders, leaving WHO weaker and the U.S. isolated when global health challenges demand unity,” they wrote.

The WHO was founded in 1948 with the United States as a founding member. The United States is the largest contributor to the WHO, providing $1.28 billion in funding in 2022 and 2023. The United States and the WHO have worked collaboratively to respond to outbreaks and emergences. For example, since March 2024, the United States has contributed more than $22 million to mpox response efforts, supporting vaccine delivery and capacity building in six African countries. Mpox is a viral infection that can spread mainly through close contact. Most people recover, but in some people, the infection can lead to serious disease.

In a statement, Mark Suzman, CEO of the Gates Foundation, said the WHO plays a “role in combatting health threats that impact everyone, including Americans, by preventing the spread of deadly diseases, coordinating responses to health emergencies, and implementing global health initiatives — saving millions of lives each year.”

The Gates Foundation (formerly the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation) provides the second highest, behind the United States, contributor to the WHO, providing about 10% of the organization’s funding.

"We cannot make WHO more effective by walking away from it," former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Thomas Frieden, M.D., wrote on X. "The decision to withdraw weakens America's influence, increases the risk of a deadly pandemic, and makes all of us less safe."