U.S. Formally Completes Withdrawal From World Health Organization

by Emmitt Barry, Worthy News Washington D.C. Bureau Chief

WASHINGTON (Worthy News) – The United States has formally completed its withdrawal from the World Health Organization, citing the organization’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, failure to implement meaningful reforms, and what U.S. officials described as undue political influence by member states.

The announcement was made jointly Thursday by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Department of State. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued a statement confirming the termination of U.S. membership following a yearlong withdrawal process.

President Donald Trump announced the decision to leave the WHO on January 20, 2025, his first day back in office. During the subsequent year, the United States halted all funding to the organization, withdrew U.S. personnel from WHO offices worldwide, and transitioned global health efforts toward direct bilateral engagements with other countries, non-governmental organizations, private-sector partners, and faith-based entities.

U.S. officials said the WHO delayed declaring a global public health emergency and later a pandemic during the early stages of COVID-19, costing the world critical time as the virus spread. During that period, the organization’s leadership echoed and praised China’s response despite mounting evidence of early underreporting, suppression of information, and delays in confirming human-to-human transmission. The WHO also downplayed asymptomatic transmission and was slow to acknowledge airborne spread, according to U.S. officials.

Following the pandemic, the WHO failed to enact reforms addressing political influence, governance weaknesses, and coordination failures, the statement said, further eroding global trust. U.S. officials also criticized the WHO’s report on the origins of COVID-19, which dismissed the possibility of a laboratory-related origin despite China’s refusal to provide early genetic sequences or transparency regarding Wuhan laboratory activities and biosafety conditions.

A senior HHS official told reporters that while the United States historically funded up to 25 percent of the WHO’s operations, the organization has never had a U.S. director, even as countries contributing far less exerted significant influence. The official said the United States is “walking away from organizations that fail the American people,” not from global health leadership.

Kennedy reinforced that message in a prerecorded address to the World Health Assembly in May 2025, accusing the WHO of becoming “mired in bureaucratic bloat, entrenched paradigms, conflicts of interest, and international power politics.” He said the organization had capitulated to pressure from China and failed to uphold transparency and accountability to citizens of its member states.

The administration emphasized that the United States will continue to lead global public health efforts through direct partnerships. The Department of State has already signed multiyear bilateral agreements on Global Health Cooperation with dozens of countries, with additional initiatives expected. Future U.S.-led efforts will prioritize rapid emergency response, biosecurity coordination, and health innovation, officials said, with a focus on protecting American interests while benefiting partners worldwide.

The WHO has not formally approved the U.S. withdrawal and claims the United States still owes unpaid dues. The U.S. flag has been removed from WHO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. Critics, including some medical associations, warned the move could weaken global disease surveillance, though the administration rejected that claim, saying new frameworks will provide faster and more accountable responses.

The United States, a founding member of the WHO, previously attempted to withdraw in 2020 during Trump’s first term, a move later reversed by the Biden administration. The current withdrawal fulfills a 1948 congressional resolution allowing U.S. exit with one year’s notice and payment of obligations for the fiscal year.

The announcement comes as President Trump attends the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where his administration has pushed for a reordering of global institutions it argues no longer serve U.S. or allied interests.

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