The U.S. Authorities and the World Well being Group

This factsheet has been up to date to replicate the Trump Administration’s Executive Order on Withdrawing america from the World Well being Group, issued on January 20, 2025.

Key Information

• The World Well being Group (WHO), based in 1948, is a specialised company of the United Nations with a broad mandate to behave as a coordinating authority on worldwide well being points, together with serving to international locations mount responses to public well being emergencies.
• The U.S. authorities (U.S.) has been actively engaged with WHO all through its historical past, offering monetary and technical help in addition to collaborating in its governance construction. Nevertheless, on January 20, 2025, President Trump introduced the U.S. would withdraw as a member of WHO and halt funding to the group. In 2020, through the first Trump administration, the U.S. briefly suspended funding and initiated a course of to finish membership, actions that had been reversed by the Biden administration in 2021.
• Traditionally, the U.S. has traditionally been one of many largest funders of WHO. U.S. contributions have ranged between $163 million and $816 million yearly over the past decade.
• Over the past a number of years WHO has overseen negotiation processes to replace an present settlement often known as the Worldwide Well being Rules (IHR), and to determine a possible new “pandemic settlement”. In Might 2024, member states accepted a set of revisions to the IHR however determined to increase the negotiation timeline for a pandemic settlement into 2025. By government order from President Trump the U.S. will now not take part in pandemic settlement negotiations, and its future is unsure.
• In 2024, WHO launched its first ever “funding spherical,” looking for to mobilize a further $7 billion from present and new donors to help its operations by means of 2028. As of the tip of 2024, the group reported it acquired $3.8 billion in further donor pledges, amounting to 53% of its fundraising purpose. The Biden administration didn’t announce a pledge to WHO at the moment and the Trump administration has already mentioned that it’s going to stop funding the group.

What’s the World Well being Group?

WHO, founded in 1948, is a specialised company of the United Nations. As outlined in its constitution, WHO has a broad mandate to “act because the directing and coordinating authority on worldwide well being work” throughout the United Nations system. It has 194 member states.

The company has played a key position in a lot of previous world well being achievements, such because the Alma-Ata Declaration on main well being care (1978), the eradication of smallpox (formally acknowledged in 1980), the Framework Conference on Tobacco Management (adopted in 2003), and the 2005 revision of the Worldwide Well being Rules (IHR), a world settlement that outlines roles and duties in making ready for and responding to worldwide well being emergencies.  WHO has often offered member states with technical steerage and help throughout responses to epidemics and pandemics, resembling Ebola, Zika, mpox, and COVID-19.

Mission and Priorities

WHO’s overarching mission is “attainment by all peoples of the very best potential stage of well being.” It helps its mission by means of activities resembling:

• offering technical help to international locations;
• setting worldwide well being requirements and offering steerage on well being points;
• coordinating and supporting worldwide responses to well being emergencies resembling illness outbreaks; and
• selling and advocating for higher world well being.

The group additionally serves as a convener and host for worldwide conferences and discussions on well being points. Whereas WHO is mostly not a direct funder of well being providers and applications in international locations, it does present provides and different help throughout emergencies and carries out applications funded by donors.

WHO’s overarching goal for its present work interval (2019-2025) has been “guaranteeing wholesome lives and selling well-being for all in any respect ages.” In pursuit of this goal, it has been specializing in three strategic priorities (the “triple-billion targets”): serving to 1 billion extra folks profit from common well being protection; guaranteeing 1 billion extra persons are higher protected towards well being emergencies; and serving to 1 billion extra folks take pleasure in higher well being and well-being.

As a part of its work to assist international locations be higher protected towards well being emergencies – and propelled by the problems and challenges confronted through the COVID-19 pandemic – WHO has been overseeing two units of worldwide negotiations amongst member states:

On the Might 2024 World Well being Meeting (WHA) assembly, member states did attain consensus and accepted a set of revisions to the IHR. On the pandemic settlement, member states haven’t but reached consensus and determined to proceed negotiations into 2025 with a purpose of finishing negotiations and voting on the settlement on the Might 2025 WHA assembly.

Group

WHO has a global reach, with a headquarters workplace positioned in Geneva, Switzerland, six semi-autonomous regional places of work that oversee actions in every area,¹  and a community of nation places of work and representatives all over the world. It’s led by a Director-General (DG), presently Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who was first appointed in 2017 and was re-elected to a second five-year time period in Might 2022. Dr. Tedros has indicated that his priorities embody persevering with to strengthen WHO’s financing, staffing, and operations; constructing pandemic preparedness and response capacities at WHO and elsewhere; and serving to international locations re-orient well being methods towards main well being care and common well being protection.

World Well being Meeting

The World Health Assembly (WHA), comprised of representatives from 194 member states, is the supreme decision-making physique for WHO and is convened yearly. It’s liable for deciding on the Director-Common, setting priorities, and approving WHO’s funds and actions. The annual WHA assembly in Can also serves as a key discussion board for nations to debate and make selections about well being coverage and WHO organizational points. Each 4 years, the WHA negotiates and approves a piece plan for WHO, often known as the overall programme of labor (GPW). The current GPW, for 2019-2023, has been extended by the WHA by means of 2025. Each two years the WHA additionally approves WHO’s programme funds in help of its work plan; the present programme budget covers the 2024-2025 biennium. Extra details about WHO’s funds offered under.

Govt Board

WHO’s Executive Board, comprised of 34 members technically certified within the subject of well being, facilitates the implementation of the company’s work plan and gives proposals and proposals to the Director-Common and the WHA. The 34 members are drawn from six areas as follows:

• 7 signify Africa,
• 6 signify the Americas,
• 5 signify the Jap Mediterranean,
• 8 signify Europe,
• 3 signify South-East Asia, and
• 5 signify the Western Pacific.

Member states inside every area designate members to serve on the Govt Board on a rotating foundation. The U.S. presently holds a seat on the Govt Board.

Actions

WHO helps actions throughout a lot of key areas, organized into a number of “budget segments,” together with “base programmes,” emergency operations, polio eradication, and “particular programmes” (see Desk 1). “Base programmes” refers back to the core help offered for WHO headquarters actions, regional operations, and efforts resembling bettering entry to high quality important well being providers, important medicines, vaccines, diagnostics, and gadgets for main well being care. “Emergency operations” contains WHO efforts to assist international locations put together for and reply to epidemics and different well being emergencies resembling COVID-19, mpox, and natural disasters. “Particular programmes” contains a lot of WHO-led initiatives such because the Research and Training in Tropical Diseases program and Pandemic Influenza Preparedness (PIP) Framework actions.

Funding

Programme Price range

WHO has a programme funds set prematurely by member states, which is supposed to stipulate deliberate actions to fulfill its work plan over a two-year interval (biennium) and describes the “useful resource ranges required to ship that work.” The present programme funds of $6.834 billion covers the interval 2024-2025, and was approved by member states in Might 2023. This quantity represents a slight (2%) enhance over WHO’s earlier 2022-2023 programme funds of $6.726 billion. See Desk 1.

The programme funds represents a plan for the group’s anticipated sources, however precise sources might deviate from the preliminary budgeted quantities over course of the biennium resulting from altering or surprising circumstances, resembling further sources (income) offered to WHO for emergency responses or decrease ranges of help than anticipated. For instance, within the earlier biennium (2022-2023) WHO reported programme sources that totaled $8.4 billion resulting from further funding in help of emergency operations, together with COVID-19 response and polio eradication actions.

Income

WHO has two main sources of revenue:

• assessed contributions (set quantities anticipated to be paid by member-state governments, scaled by earnings and inhabitants) and
• voluntary contributions (different funds offered by member states, plus contributions from non-public organizations and people).

Most assessed contributions are thought-about “core” funding, which means they’re versatile funds which can be usually used to cowl basic bills and program actions. Voluntary contributions, then again, are sometimes “specified” funds, which means they’re earmarked by donors for sure actions. Though a long time in the past the vast majority of WHO’s income got here from assessed contributions, extra just lately voluntary contributions have comprised the larger share of WHO’s funds. For instance, within the previous budget period (2022-2023) assessed contributions totaled $956.9 million (12.1% of whole income), voluntary contributions totaled $6.92 billion (87.5% of whole income), and “different income” totaled $28.1 million (0.4%).²  See Determine 1.

Reliance on voluntary, comparatively rigid funding has, in WHO’s view, hampered its operations and effectiveness. In 2022, member states, together with the U.S., agreed in precept to move toward extra predictable, versatile funding for WHO and to scale back the position of specified voluntary contributions. Since then, member states have approved a 20% increase in assessed contributions for the 2024-2025 biennium, and instituted a purpose to have 50% of WHO’s programme funds be financed by means of assessed contributions by 2030 (which might be linked to WHO first assembly sure organizational benchmarks). Nevertheless, following the Trump Administration’s choice to withhold U.S. funding and withdraw from WHO altogether, some international locations resembling China have expressed opposition to the beforehand agreed-to will increase in member contributions, elevating considerations in regards to the extent to which these will increase will truly be enacted.

In 2024, member states additionally accepted the launch of WHO’s first-ever “investment round, which goals to mobilize further funding for WHO over the following 4 years. In its investment case for 2025-2028, WHO estimates it should want $11 billion to implement its global program of work (GPW) over this era, however member state assessments (core contributions) are prone to quantity to $4 billion, leaving a $7 billion hole to fill with voluntary contributions and different donations. To assist fill this hole, WHO held a collection of conferences and “pledging moments,” culminating in a high-level event across the G20 leaders’ summit in Brazil in November 2024. By means of this course of, WHO reports it was capable of generate a further $3.8 billion in donor pledges by means of 2028, or 53% of its authentic purpose of $7 billion. The Biden administration didn’t announce any further pledges to WHO by means of the funding spherical, and now the Trump administration has mentioned that it’s going to stop funding the group.

Challenges

WHO faces a lot of institutional challenges, together with:

• a scope of accountability that has expanded over time with little progress in core, non-emergency funding;
• an rigid funds dominated lately by much less predictable voluntary contributions usually earmarked for particular actions;
• a cumbersome, decentralized, and bureaucratic governance construction; and
• a twin mandate of being each a technical company with well being experience and a political physique the place states debate and negotiate on typically divisive well being points.

These and different challenges had been significantly evident throughout and after perceived failures of the company within the response to the Ebola epidemic in West Africa (2014-2015), and within the criticisms directed at WHO because it tried to assist coordinate a world response to the COVID-19 pandemic. At the same time as many member states proceed to help WHO and acknowledge its significance for world well being, many are additionally calling for reforms to the group that may assist tackle its weaknesses. WHO itself supports reforms in a number of areas and has taken some inside reform actions, whereas additionally launching its new “funding spherical” and ushering negotiation processes to revise the Worldwide Well being Rules and set up a brand new pandemic accord, every of which incorporates reforms to WHO practices.

U.S. Engagement with WHO

The U.S. authorities has lengthy been engaged with WHO in a number of methods together with by means of monetary help, participation in governance and diplomacy, and joint actions (see under). In 2020, after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the primary Trump administration suspended monetary help and initiated a course of to withdraw the U.S. from membership within the group.³  Underneath the Biden administration, U.S. relations with the group had been re-established in January 2021, and U.S. funding to WHO was restored.⁴  Nevertheless, on January 20, 2025 President Trump signed an Executive Order in his first day of workplace to as soon as once more droop U.S. contributions to WHO, withdraw U.S. membership, and recall all U.S. personnel working with the group. Underneath the rules within the WHO Structure, the withdrawal of a member state from the group turns into official after one yr after discover is given. The Trump Administration submitted a formal letter of withdrawal, and the United Nations has mentioned U.S. membership in WHO will formally finish on January 23, 2026.

Monetary Help

One of many foremost methods during which the U.S. authorities helps WHO is thru its assessed and voluntary contributions (which have now been halted underneath the brand new Govt Order from President Trump). The U.S. has traditionally been the only largest contributor to WHO. Within the 2020-2021 interval (when the Trump administration withheld some U.S. funding through the COVID-19 pandemic), it was the third largest since different donors, notably Germany and the Invoice and Melinda Gates Basis, elevated their contributions in response to COVID-19.  The Biden administration restored funding beginning in 2021 and within the 2022-2023 interval the U.S. was as soon as once more the largest contributor to WHO.

For a few years, the assessed contribution for the U.S. has been set at 22% of all member state assessed contributions, the utmost allowed charge. Between FY 2015 and FY 2024, the U.S. assessed contribution has been pretty steady, fluctuating between $109 million and $122 million (in FY 2019 and FY 2020 the U.S. truly paid lower than its assessed quantity, and in FY 2021 it paid greater than that quantity resulting from funds made towards excellent arrears). See Determine 2.

Voluntary contributions for particular tasks or actions, then again, have assorted to replicate altering U.S. priorities and/or help throughout worldwide crises. Over the previous decade, U.S. voluntary contributions have ranged from a low of $105 million in FY 2020 to a excessive of $694 million in FY 2022. Increased quantities of voluntary contributions may be reflective of elevated U.S. help for particular WHO actions resembling emergency response. U.S. voluntary contributions additionally help a spread of different WHO actions resembling polio eradication; maternal, new child, and little one well being applications; psychological well being providers for victims of torture and trauma; well being coordination in COVID-19 response; and different infectious illnesses.

WHO reports that U.S. assessed and voluntary contributions collectively represented 15.6% of WHO’s whole income within the 2022-2023 biennium, making the U.S. the biggest donor to WHO throughout that interval.

Governance Actions

Previously, the U.S. had been an lively participant in WHO governance, together with by means of the Govt Board and the World Well being Meeting (WHA), although underneath the brand new Govt Order from President Trump, all official U.S. participation in WHO has been halted. The U.S. held a seat on the WHO Govt Board when the Govt Order was issued in January 2025.⁵  The U.S. had traditionally been an lively and engaged member of the WHA, sending a big delegation annually that has usually been led by a consultant from the Division of Well being and Human Companies, with a number of different U.S. companies and departments additionally collaborating. The U.S. was additionally actively collaborating within the negotiations to develop a brand new pandemic agreement and took part within the current course of to replace and amend the IHR agreement.

Technical Help

The U.S. had, up to now, offered technical help to WHO by means of quite a lot of actions and partnerships. This contains U.S. authorities specialists and sources supporting analysis and reference laboratory work through WHO collaborating centres⁶  and participation of U.S. specialists on advisory panels and advisory teams convened by WHO. The U.S. contributions to WHO collaborating centres have included technical areas resembling most cancers, occupational well being, diet, continual illnesses, and bettering well being applied sciences.⁷  As well as, U.S. authorities representatives had been usually seconded to or have served as liaisons at WHO headquarters and WHO regional places of work, working day-to-day with workers on technical efforts, although these personnel have been recalled underneath the brand new Trump Administration Govt Order.⁸ 

Partnering Actions

The U.S. has additionally labored in partnership with WHO earlier than and through responses to outbreaks and different worldwide well being emergencies, together with collaborating in worldwide groups that WHO organizes to analyze and reply to outbreaks all over the world. For instance, the U.S. labored with WHO and the broader multilateral response to the Ebola epidemic in West Africa that started in 2014, and U.S. scientists had been a part of the WHO delegation that visited China in February 2020 to evaluate its response to COVID-19. To assist additional develop areas of partnership and coordination, the Biden administration had instituted semi-regular “strategic dialogue” conferences to create a daily discussion board for discussions between key U.S. and WHO officers.