22 January 2026 was the United States’ final day as a member of the World Health Organization (WHO) after a year of polemic health policy decisions.
On 20 January 2025, Donald Trump signed an executive order to formally initiate the United States’ withdrawal from the World Health Organization (WHO) – a process that concluded on Thursday 22 January 2026, a year after the United Nations was notified.
Trump’s decision came on the first day of his presidential mandate, his second attempt to leave the international organisation, following a previous effort in 2020.
The US government cited the organisation's mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic, and other global health crises, its failure to adopt urgently needed reforms, and its inability to demonstrate independence from the inappropriate political influence of WHO member states, as reasons for its departure.
Over the last decade, the US has contributed between $160 million and $815 million (€153 million to €780 million) to the WHO every year. The agency’s yearly budget is about $2 billion to $3 billion (€1.9 billion to €2.9 billion).
Since the announcement last year, the United States’ health policy has steadily distanced itself from the international organisation and broader global frameworks.
Information blockage
Beginning January 2025, all agencies under the Department of Health and Human Services, including the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), implemented a government-wide communication pause.
This prohibited them from updating CDC websites and releasing case numbers, issuing health advisories, posting on social media, and meeting with external partners.
While reduced communications resumed after a few weeks, the American agency has remained disengaged from the WHO, a move that has also affected relations with other health agencies, such as the European and African centres for disease prevention and control, which now rely on bilateral communications.
Pandemic Agreement
The United States did not endorse the WHO’s Pandemic Agreement signed in Geneva during the World Health Assembly in May – a document the US had played a central role in negotiating.
The legally binding accord requires countries to take steps to prevent, prepare for, and respond to future pandemics, with the goal of making medical supplies such as vaccines more accessible worldwide.
The Trump administration dissolved the Directorate of Global Health Security and Biodefense, originally created following the 2014-2015 Ebola outbreak to prevent fragmented pandemic response, and had been responsible for interagency coordination on biological threats.
New food pyramid
At the beginning of the year, US Secretary of Health Robert F. Kennedy unveiled new dietary guidelines, now prioritising red meat, poultry, seafood, and eggs as primary protein sources.
This new focus on animal proteins diverges from WHO recommendations, which focus on plant-based proteins such as beans, legumes, nuts, and seeds as primary protein sources, with animal proteins as supplementary.
Vaccine recommendation
In January 2026, the US government announced a reduction of recommended vaccines from 17 to 11.
Some of the vaccines removed from universal recommendation include Hepatitis A and B, influenza, meningococcal, and chickenpox.
Polio, measles, mumps, rubella, diphtheria, and tetanus remain on the list.
The US cited Denmark, which currently recommends 10 vaccines, as an example to follow. However, critics argue that health policy cannot be “copy-pasted”.
Most countries recommend around 13 vaccines, such as Canada and the United Kingdom, while Germany recommends 15.
International aid
After six decades of operations, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) was shut down on Trump’s orders.
In total, the United States provided $71.9 billion (€69.1 billion) in foreign aid to 209 countries and regions in 2023, with much of it funnelled through USAID, according to US government data.
In 2023, 22 percent of all US aid – $16.1 billion (€15.5 billion) – went to programmes that cover HIV/AIDS, nutrition, tuberculosis, pandemics and emerging threats, maternal and child health, family planning and reproductive health, sanitation, and other health initiatives.
A study published in The Lancet warned that if 2025 cuts persist to 2030, they could result in an additional 14.1 million deaths, including 4.5 million children under the age of five.
