The United States has officially severed its ties with the World Health Organization (WHO), following a year of escalating tensions and warnings regarding the impact on global health security.
The departure, which took effect end of last week, follows an executive order signed by President Donald Trump on his first day in office in 2025.
This move marks the culmination of the administration’s long-standing criticism of the United Nations health agency, citing what it describes as failures in managing the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to a joint statement from the U.S. Health and State Departments, Washington intends to bypass international bodies in favor of direct partnerships.
According to reports by Reuters, senior government health official clarified the administration’s stance, stating: “We have no plans to participate as an observer, and we have no plans of rejoining.”
Instead, the U.S. noted it aims to coordinate with individual nations on disease surveillance and public health priorities.
To facilitate the exit, reports noted that the officials confirmed that the U.S. will only engage with the WHO in a “limited fashion” during the transition.
The withdrawal has triggered a significant legal and financial row over outstanding debts. Under U.S. law, the government is required to provide one year’s notice and settle all arrears—estimated at approximately $260 million—prior to leaving.
However, the State Department has challenged this interpretation of the statute where a spokesperson asserted on Thursday that “the American people have paid more than enough,” arguing that the law does not mandate payment as a condition of withdrawal.
However, the agency maintains that the U.S. has yet to pay its dues for 2024 and 2025.
Furthermore, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) confirmed that all funding contributions have been halted.
An HHS spokesperson noted that President Trump paused the transfer of resources because the organization had allegedly cost the U.S. “trillions of dollars.”
Impact on global health operations
The departure of the WHO’s largest donor—which traditionally provided 18% of its overall funding—has plunged the agency into a financial crisis.
The consequences for WHO have been immediate and severe; notably, the agency’s management team has already been reduced by half as a direct result of the funding shortfall.
Furthermore, budgets have been slashed across every department, forcing a significant scale-back of global operations.
Consequently, the agency expects to lay off approximately 25% of its total staff by the middle of this year, a move that experts warn could cripple the international infrastructure required to monitor and respond to emerging health threats.
In Geneva, witnesses reported that the American flag was removed from outside the WHO headquarters on Thursday. This exit coincides with the U.S. withdrawing from several other UN organizations, fueling concerns that the recently established “Board of Peace” may further undermine the United Nations structure.
The international community has reacted with deep concern. Lawrence Gostin, director of the O’Neill Institute for Global Health Law at Georgetown University, described the move as a “clear violation of U.S. law,” though he added that “Trump is highly likely to get away with it.”
While WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has spent the last year urging a rethink, major private donors see little hope for an immediate reversal. Speaking at Davos, Bill Gates, chair of the Gates Foundation, said he did not expect the U.S. to return in the short term, though he vowed to continue advocating for it. “The world needs the World Health Organization,” Gates said.
Kelly Henning of Bloomberg Philanthropies warned that the move could “weaken the systems and collaborations the world relies on to detect, prevent, and respond to health threats.”
The WHO’s executive board is scheduled to meet in February to discuss the formal handling of the U.S. departure.
WHO in Kenya
It is noted that WHO operates in Kenya as a vital technical advisor and strategic partner to the Ministry of Health, primarily focusing on the realization of Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and the enhancement of national health emergency preparedness.
Under its first major pillar, the organization aligns with Kenya’s “Bottom-up Economic Transformation Agenda” by pivoting the healthcare system toward preventive primary care.
This shift was underscored in July 2025 by a massive immunization campaign that protected 16 million children from measles, rubella, and typhoid, notably reaching 74,000 “zero-dose” children who had previously lacked any vaccinations.
Furthermore, the agency continues to facilitate the Malaria Vaccine Implementation Programme, reaching 11,000 additional children monthly, and recently supported the January 2026 launch of the National Cervical Cancer Elimination Action Plan.
Beyond routine healthcare, Kenya functions as a critical regional hub for WHO emergency operations. The Emergency and Preparedness hub in Nairobi currently houses roughly 65 experts who manage over 100 health emergencies across the African continent annually.
Within Kenya specifically, the WHO has been instrumental in managing cholera outbreaks across 10 high-risk counties and executing a 10-day Mpox vaccination campaign.
As of January 2026, the organization is also tackling the health and nutrition crises brought on by severe drought, which has left more than two million Kenyans in a vulnerable state.
The third pillar of the WHO’s strategy in Kenya focuses on fostering healthier populations by addressing long-term environmental and lifestyle factors.
This includes the “Tobacco-Free Farms” initiative, which helps farmers transition from tobacco cultivation to high-iron beans to bolster both economic stability and national nutrition.
Additionally, the organization is scaling up mental health support through the “Problem Management Plus” model and partnering with the government to mitigate the health impacts of climate change and air pollution.
Despite these efforts and positive indicators—such as a life expectancy of 67 years and a reduction in under-five mortality to 41.1 per 1,000 live births—significant hurdles remain.
The 2025 health budget stands at 7.2% of the national total, yet the WHO has raised concerns regarding a rise in HIV infection rates observed since 2022.
Moreover, regional disparities persist, with a stark contrast in healthcare access between well-served urban centers and underserved rural areas, highlighting the ongoing need for equitable health resource distribution.