{"id":449487,"date":"2026-02-05T00:26:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-05T00:26:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/449487\/"},"modified":"2026-02-05T00:26:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T00:26:08","slug":"illinois-joins-who-network-after-trump-pulls-us-out-of-global-health-body-illinois","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/449487\/","title":{"rendered":"Illinois joins WHO network after Trump pulls US out of global health body | Illinois"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Illinois<\/a> governor, JB Pritzker, has announced that his state will join the World Health Organization<\/a>\u2019s Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN), following Donald Trump<\/a>\u2019s decision to withdraw the US from the global body in 2025.<\/p>\n

Pritzker, a Democrat, made the announcement<\/a> on Tuesday, confirming that Illinois will become part of the coordinated international network dedicated to monitoring and responding to global disease outbreaks.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy withdrawing from the World Health Organization<\/a>, Donald Trump has undermined science and weakened our nation\u2019s ability to detect and respond to global health threats. I refuse to sit idly by and let that happen,\u201d Pritzker said.<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cBy joining the World Health Organization\u2019s coordinated network, GOARN, we are ensuring that our public health leaders \u2013 and the public \u2013 have the information, expertise and partnerships they need to protect the people of our state. Across our state and alongside valued partners around the world, Illinois<\/a> will continue to put science, preparedness and people first.\u201d<\/p>\n

Illinois\u2019s lieutenant governor, Juliana Stratton, echoed the governor\u2019s remarks, saying: \u201cWe will always choose the health of our people over political grandstanding or misinformation, and we will remain focused on what keeps families and communities safe.\u201d<\/p>\n

Through its membership in GOARN, Illinois will gain direct access to global early-warning alerts and outbreak intelligence, as well as opportunities for technical collaboration and surge support during major public health emergencies. The state will also participate in international training programs, exercises and best-practice exchanges, Pritzker\u2019s office said.<\/p>\n

Illinois\u2019s move comes after Trump made the decision to withdraw the US from the World Health Organization (WHO) upon retaking office last year. The US had been the WHO\u2019s largest donor, accounting for about 18% of its total funding. Its departure led to the loss of nearly a quarter <\/a>of the WHO\u2019s workforce \u2013 about 2,000 jobs \u2013 from a total staff of roughly 9,400.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s withdrawal of the US drew widespread condemnation from medical organizations including the American Medical Association<\/a>, as well as the UN<\/a>. At the time, Trump accused the WHO of failing to act independently due to \u201cinappropriate political influence of WHO member states\u201d.<\/p>\n

He also criticized the organization\u2019s funding structure, complaining of \u201cunfairly onerous payments\u201d from the US, and said<\/a> last January: \u201cWorld Health ripped us off, everybody rips off the United States. It\u2019s not going to happen any more.\u201d<\/p>\n

After the US withdrawal, Illinois joined<\/a> the Governor\u2019s Public Health Alliance last October, a coalition of 15 governors \u2013 including those from New York and California \u2013 \u201ccommitted to protecting their states from the Trump administration\u2019s erosion of trust and dismantlement of America\u2019s public health infrastructure\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Illinois governor, JB Pritzker, has announced that his state will join the World Health Organization\u2019s Global Outbreak…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":449488,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,3,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":{"0":"post-449487","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-united-states-of-america","12":"tag-unitedstates","13":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","14":"tag-us","15":"tag-usa"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/449487","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=449487"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/449487\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/449488"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=449487"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=449487"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=449487"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}