Trump Withdraws U.S. from World Health Organization — What Does That Mean?

“It’s a cataclysmic presidential decision,” say experts, referring to President Trump’s executive order to pull the country out of WHO

By Cara Lynn Shultz is a writer-reporter at PEOPLE. Her work has previously appeared in Billboard and Reader’s Digest.

Updated on January 21, 2025 04:43PM EST

• On his first day in office, President Donald Trump signed an executive order withdrawing the United States from the World Health Organization (WHO), a global coalition that responds to health issues
• Experts say the move will prohibit the U.S. from responding appropriately to health crises, including viruses and pandemics, and prevent WHO from responding appropriately to new threats
• Trump cited the organization’s management of the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as the financial obligations of the U.S., as his reasons for withdrawing

President Donald Trump signed an executive order Jan. 20 that withdraws the United States from the World Health Organization (WHO), a global coalition of 194 members that addresses health issues on a global scale. But experts say this order may leave Americans unprotected from emerging diseases such as bird flu and Marburg — and inhibit the agency from responding to new threats.

“It’s a cataclysmic presidential decision,” Lawrence Gostin, professor of global health law at Georgetown University and director of WHO’s Center on Global Health Law said in a post on X. “Withdrawal is a grievous wound to world health, but a still deeper wound to the US.”

That’s because, as The New York Times reports, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control would lose access to WHO’s data on emerging global health concerns. Gostin, along with Richard Conniff, author of Ending Epidemics: A History of Escape From Contagion, wrote in the Washington Post that withdrawal will leave the U.S. open to diseases from abroad, citing how WHO recently stopped an outbreak of Marburg, called the “eye-bleeding virus.”

They also write that childhood diseases that were eradicated via vaccinations may come back — and with bird flu looming, this move leaves America unprotected from another pandemic. “Withdrawal from the WHO will put U.S. agencies and pharmaceutical companies at the back of the line for accessing critical data on H5N1 and slow development of vaccines we might urgently need to save lives,” Gostin and Conniff wrote.

The U.S.’ status and power may take a hit, according to Elisha Dunn-Georgiou, president and CEO of the Global Health Council, as NPR reported. Withdrawing is “really bad for the U.S. [in terms of] access to data, to surveillance, to being at the table negotiating and holding other countries accountable when there is an epidemic or pandemic.”

In response to emerging threats, Trump’s order also includes a provision where the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs is empowered to “establish directorates and coordinating mechanisms” that are “necessary and appropriate to safeguard public health and fortify biosecurity” — but did not specify what these mechanisms were.

WHO’s work will suffer as well, NBC News reported, as it will lose US funding, likely for programs for vaccines and child and maternal health.

In his order — one of many signed on his first day in office — Trump cited WHO’s “mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic that arose out of Wuhan, China, and other global health crises,” as well as “onerous payments from the United States.” Trump said he believes, from a population perspective, China should pay more than the U.S. 

The Washington Post says that the contribution amount is determined by population and a country’s income. The United States is the largest contributor to the organization, donating $1.284 billion in 2022-2023, according to WHO. Germany, with $856 million in donations, is in second place.  

“World Health ripped us off, everybody rips off the United States. It’s not going to happen anymore,” Trump said as he signed the order, Sky News reported.

In its official response to the withdrawal, the World Health Organization pointed out that the United States was a founding member when the coalition was created in 1948, and has actively participated in its World Health Assembly and Executive Board.

“For over seven decades, WHO and the USA have saved countless lives and protected Americans and all people from health threats. Together, we ended smallpox, and together we have brought polio to the brink of eradication. American institutions have contributed to and benefited from membership of WHO,” the statement continued, adding the WHO plays a crucial role in “detecting, preventing and responding to health emergencies, including disease outbreaks, often in dangerous places where others cannot go.”

WHO said it “regrets the announcement that the United States of America intends to withdraw from the Organization.” 

“We hope the United States will reconsider and we look forward to engaging in constructive dialogue to maintain the partnership between the USA and WHO, for the benefit of the health and well-being of millions of people around the globe.”