{"id":424583,"date":"2026-01-23T07:48:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T07:48:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/424583\/"},"modified":"2026-01-23T07:48:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T07:48:07","slug":"scientifically-reckless-us-walks-out-of-who-leaves-behind-a-whopping-260-million-debt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/424583\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Scientifically reckless\u2019: US walks out of WHO, leaves behind a whopping $260 million debt"},"content":{"rendered":"

The United States formally completed its withdrawal from the World Health Organization (WHO) on Thursday, a year after President Donald Trump<\/a> ordered the exit.<\/p>\n

\"\u2018Messy\u2018Messy divorce\u2019: US walks away from WHO leaving unpaid tab of about $260 million (File photo)<\/p>\n

The move ends all US participation in the UN health agency but leaves behind an unpaid debt of roughly $260 million, according to reports in Bloomberg and Reuters.<\/p>\n

The US department of health and human services (HHS) said all funding to the WHO<\/a> has been terminated, and US personnel have been recalled from its headquarters and offices worldwide, reported Bloomberg. The country has also ended participation in WHO-sponsored leadership bodies, technical committees, and working groups.<\/p>\n

Also Read | Trump withdraws invitation to Canadian PM Carney to join \u2018Board of Peace\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

The move comes after Trump signed the executive order on his first day in office for a second term, citing the WHO\u2019s \u201cmishandling of the Covid pandemic, failure to adopt reforms and a lack of independence from inappropriate political influence.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018No obligation to settle debt\u2019<\/p>\n

An administration official on Thursday denied that there was an obligation to settle the debt before withdrawal.<\/p>\n

A senior HHS official told reporters that there is no statutory requirement for the US to settle outstanding debts before leaving the agency, even though a 1948 Congressional resolution mandates one year\u2019s notice and payment of any dues.<\/p>\n

Also Read | Why India is not in a rush to get on board with Trump\u2019s \u2018Board of Peace\u2019 for Gaza<\/a><\/p>\n

Despite completing the formal exit, the US has not paid dues for 2024 and 2025. According to the WHO, the US owed about $260 million as of January 2025. However, as associated Press report said the debt amount is over $130 million, citing a WHO official.<\/p>\n

WHO left without its top donor<\/p>\n

The Washington’s exit deprives the WHO of its largest contributor. According to a Bloomberg report, between 2022 and 2023, the US contributed nearly $1.3 billion to the organization.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a very messy divorce,\u201d the news agency quoted Lawrence Gostin, director of the WHO Collaborating Center on National and Global Health Law at Georgetown University as saying.<\/p>\n

Gostin warned, \u201cThe withdrawal will hurt the global response to new outbreaks and will hobble the ability of US scientists and pharmaceutical companies to develop vaccines and medicines against new threats. In my opinion, it\u2019s the most ruinous presidential decision in my lifetime.\u201d<\/p>\n

Global health consequences<\/p>\n

The WHO is the United Nations\u2019 specialized health agency tasked with coordinating responses to global health threats, providing technical support to poorer nations, distributing vaccines and treatments, and setting health guidelines. Nearly every country in the world is a member.<\/p>\n

Experts say US withdrawal could cripple initiatives ranging from polio eradication to maternal and child health programs and emerging virus research.<\/p>\n

Dr Ronald Nahass, president of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, called the move \u201cshortsighted and misguided\u201d and \u201cscientifically reckless.\u201d<\/p>\n

By ceasing participation in WHO committees and technical groups, the US has also lost access to global flu data, which informs vaccine decisions and allows Americans to act quickly during outbreaks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The United States formally completed its withdrawal from the World Health Organization (WHO) on Thursday, a year after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":424584,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[28,101,202213,644,202214,202212,202215,4871],"class_list":{"0":"post-424583","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-economy","10":"tag-global-health-threats","11":"tag-trump-administration","12":"tag-u-s-contribution","13":"tag-united-states-withdrawal","14":"tag-us-leaves-world-health-organisation","15":"tag-world-health-organization"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424583","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=424583"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424583\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/424584"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=424583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=424583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=424583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}