Madison Moore

March 13, 2026

The United States of America, under the guidance of President Donald Trump, has officially left the World Health Organization, leaving the United States without vital virus data. When the claim was filed in January of 2025, the reasons for leaving the W.H.O. were due to the organization’s response during the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020. The government chose to highlight failures to adopt reforms to address governance weakness and poor coordination. The Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, said in a press statement,“This does not mean America is turning its back on the world. We are simply rejecting an outdated model of multilateralism, one that treats the American taxpayer as the world’s underwriter for sprawling architecture of global governance.”  Following this choice, the United States of America will be one of five countries that are not members. 

As ordered by President Trump, the United States has terminated all government funding to the W.H.O. as well as the termination of any U.S. personnel embedded within W.H.O. offices around the globe, cutting thousands of jobs. In 2022-2023 alone, the United States directly gave $218,000,000 in funding to the W.H.O., with more than $1 billion   in voluntary funds. 

So, what are the global repercussions of this decision? Institutions in the United States such as the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and the National Institute of Health (NIH) will lose collaborative opportunities that could help shape global health research. Moreover, this loss of funding from the United States will create a deficit in the W.H.O’s. global budget, leading to disruptions in important health programs such as emergency health preparedness. Serious implications of this lack of funding will affect financing of African health programs, as 12-15% of their funding cut as a result. This cut will specifically affect programs involving AIDS, malaria, and maternal-child health. Now, the healthcare burden for many African families will fall directly on the household and individuals. Moreso, the effects of the withdrawal will be felt by every nation that is helped by the World Health Organization, being every country aside from Liechtenstein, Taiwan, Cook Islands, and Kosovo, who are not official members.  

However, the implications of this withdrawal will also prove serious for the United States itself. The U.S. will now lose access to 127 global laboratories of the W.H.O. which sequence and detect flu strains, so it is very likely we will see a drop in global health information regarding the flu. Scientifically, the decision to withdraw from the W.H.O. is reckless, not only for the United States, but for global health cooperation. The CEO of the Infectious Diseases Society of America reports, “By pulling out, we are not just losing our ability to provide data, but also to contribute to the dialogue and make sure we have a say in understanding why the flu vaccine is being composed in the way it is every year.” This impact on United States citizens will not be immediate, but the repercussions include less awareness of emerging disease threats, likely causing trouble for health officials trying to respond to such threats. With this, it is reasonable to assume that if there is another global outbreak such as the one in 2020, the United States will have a difficult time keeping up with other countries to halt the outbreak. So, it is safe to say that the decision made by the United States government to withdraw from the World Health Organization will not only have negative geopolitical consequences, but also real-life consequences that will be felt by all living in the United States of America. 

Image Credits: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/4430916/us-officially-leaves-the-world-health-organization/