January 22, 2026 — The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Department of State announced the United States’ completion of its withdrawal from the World Health Organization (WHO) due to the organization’s mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic that arose out of Wuhan, China, its failure to adopt urgently needed reforms, and its inability to demonstrate independence from the inappropriate political influence of WHO member states.
The World Health Organization’s Statement
The World Health Organization (WHO) has issued a detailed statement regretting the United States decision to leave the UN agency, and declaring that it will leave both the US and the world less safe as a result.
United Nations News
The UN breaks down the statement made by the World Health Organization on the US withdrawl.
Infectious Diseases Society of America
According to the IDSA the U.S. withdrawal from the World Health Organization is a shortsighted and misguided abandonment of our global health commitments. Global cooperation and communication are critical to keep our own citizens protected because germs do not respect borders.
NY State Department of Health
The decision by the current administration to withdraw the United States from the World Health Organization (WHO) is the latest troubling development from federal policymakers. While there is no immediate impact to New Yorkers, this decision could increase medium- and long-term threats to the state. We face increased risks from travel-related exposure to illnesses like polio and measles, we lose the benefit of coordinated efforts to immunize global populations, and we lose access to global disease monitoring and reporting.
Think Global Health
Peter Singer, a former special advisor to the director general of the WHO, believes that the United States’ withdrawal from the WHO reflects a broader retreat from multilateral global health engagement and a shift toward bilateral health agreements. Although Singer acknowledges some positive aspects of these bilateral deals, he argues that global health threats like pandemics still require multilateral cooperation.
Doctors Without Borders
One year ago, the Trump administration issued a series of executive actions that upended global health and humanitarian programs around the world and severely damaged global cooperation and solidarity on these issues. Clinics shut their doors. Lifesaving medicines were stranded at ports. Health workers lost their jobs. The human costs have been catastrophic.
John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
In this Q&A, adapted from the January 28 episode of Public Health On Call, Judd Walson, MD, MPH, Robert E. Black Chair in International Health, talks to host Stephanie Desmon about the essential roles WHO plays in monitoring and responding to health issues around the world and the consequences this decision could have on health and security in the U.S. and worldwide.
