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PoliticsMedicine

The United States leaves the WHO

The organisation's largest funder completes its withdrawal.

When
Known to
± 12 hours
Era
Contemporary, Holocene
Where
Geneva, Switzerland · 46.2324° N, 6.1370° E

The withdrawal notified on Trump's first day in office took effect on 22 January 2026. The United States had provided roughly a fifth of the WHO's budget and led its work on influenza surveillance and polio eradication. The organisation cut its programme budget and staff, and the pandemic agreement negotiated after COVID-19 lost the participation of the country whose laboratories and stockpiles it most depended on.

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