{"id":124614,"date":"2026-02-06T01:14:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T01:14:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/124614\/"},"modified":"2026-02-06T01:14:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T01:14:12","slug":"nyc-health-department-joins-who-network-after-u-s-pullout","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/124614\/","title":{"rendered":"NYC health department joins WHO network after U.S. pullout"},"content":{"rendered":"

Public health, explained: Sign up to receive Healthbeat\u2019s free New York City newsletter here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene announced Thursday<\/a> it has joined a World Health Organization network that works on disease outbreaks and other public health emergencies around the world. The city said it was the first U.S. municipality to do so.<\/p>\n

The decision to join WHO\u2019s Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network<\/a> is the latest example of a government agency in the United States seeking to work with the WHO following the Trump administration\u2019s withdrawal from the organization in January, coupled with deep cuts to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced<\/a> last month that his state was joining the network; on Tuesday, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker announced his state would join<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The WHO group is an international public health network that brings together more than 300 public health institutions, governments, academic centers, laboratories, and response organizations. Their aim is to rapidly detect and respond to public health threats and emergencies. To this end, the different entities receive direct access to early-warning alerts and outbreak intelligence, along with training and exercises.<\/p>\n

The membership will likely prove essential this summer when the United States, along with Mexico and Canada, hosts the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Matches will take place in major cities throughout North America, culminating with a final in July at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Greater New York alone is expecting more than a million visitors. For its part, the White House has created a World Cup task force<\/a>, led by Andrew Giuliani, son of former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, that is housed at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.<\/p>\n

Public health experts say the Trump administration\u2019s retreat from the WHO will make the world \u2013 and the United States \u2013 more vulnerable to disease outbreaks and other public health threats. The United States has long been a key player in containing outbreaks in other parts of the world that might otherwise show up at the U.S. borders. The United States was the WHO\u2019s single largest donor, with contributions fluctuating, donating $1.2 billion during the 2022-23 biennium.<\/p>\n

In an interview with Healthbeat last week,<\/a> New York State Health Commissioner James McDonald said the state was also looking into joining the WHO network. <\/p>\n

McDonald said the U.S. withdrawal from the WHO would undermine global immunization efforts, which would bring illness as a result. A healthier world means a healthier New York state and United States.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of my big concerns is by pulling out of the World Health Organization and by underfunding CDC, what risk are we inviting in the United States?\u201d McDonald said. \u201cBecause people get in planes and travel, and you are literally 12 hours away from the biggest surprise ever. I don\u2019t understand why we\u2019re willing to live in this period of ignorance.”<\/p>\n

Stay informed on bird flu, measles, and more across New York.<\/p>\n

Coming soon: The latest news on critical public health issues, all in one place. Get it in our free newsletter.<\/p>\n

Trenton Daniel<\/a> is a reporter covering public health in New York for Healthbeat. Contact Trenton at tdaniel@healthbeat.org or on the messaging app Signal<\/a> at trentondaniel.88.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Public health, explained: Sign up to receive Healthbeat\u2019s free New York City newsletter here. The New York City…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":124615,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[21000,44321,660,9,11,10,49,51,50,41904,49126],"class_list":["post-124614","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-flag","tag-healthbeat","tag-horizontal","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-new-york-state","tag-new-york-state-headlines","tag-new-york-state-news","tag-who","tag-world-health-organization"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124614","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=124614"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124614\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/124615"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=124614"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=124614"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=124614"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}