U.S. has officially completed its withdrawal from the World Health Organization (WHO), the Trump administration announced on Thursday. “The U.S. has finalised its withdrawal from the World Health Organization (WHO), one year after President Donald Trump announced America was ending its 78-year-old commitment,” federal officials said on Thursday (January 22, 2026). But it's hardly a clean break.
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The WHO is the United Nations’ specialised health agency and is mandated to coordinate the response to global health threats, such as outbreaks of mpox, Ebola and polio. It also provides technical assistance to poorer countries; helps distribute scarce vaccines, supplies and treatments; and sets guidelines for hundreds of health conditions, including mental health and cancer. Nearly every country in the world is a member.
U.S. departure has sparked a financial crisis that has seen the WHO cut its management team in half and scale back work, cutting budgets across the agency. Washington has traditionally been by far the U.N. health agency's biggest financial backer, contributing around 18% of its overall funding. The WHO will also shed around a quarter of its staff by the middle of this year. The agency said it has been working with the U.S. and sharing information in the last year. It was unclear how the collaboration will work going forward.
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