The U.S. has officially withdrawn from the WHO, one year after Trump shared his intention to leave. CIDRAP has the news.
The U.S. was said to “provide about 20% of the WHO’s operational budget, but this week WHO officials said the U.S. has failed to pay membership dues for both 2024 and 2025, leaving the global alliance with a $278 million debt.” The agency said the U.S.’s withdrawal will not be complete until it settles its debts. However, the State Department said they will “not be making any payments to the WHO before our withdrawal.”
The U.S. is now the “only country to have withdrawn from the WHO since its founding” in 1948. President Trump said “the WHO had gouged the U.S., and he blamed the agency for covering up China’s role in the COVID-19 pandemic.” Trump had tried to withdraw during his first term, but Biden reversed that plan on his first day in office.
The Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) warned that the move will “jeopardize virus surveillance for the U.S.” For instance, the country will “no longer participate in the Global Influenza Surveillance and Response System, the vital platform for monitoring flu cases and sharing data and viral samples used to develop yearly flu vaccines.”
