US completes withdrawal from WHO

It attributed its decision to the agency’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, failure to implement critical reforms and susceptibility to political influence by member states.

US Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F Kennedy, Jr, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio made the announcement, which marked the conclusion of a year-long process initiated by President Donald Trump on January 20 last year.

During the withdrawal period, the US halted funding to WHO, withdrew all personnel, and started redirecting health initiatives previously coordinated through WHO to direct bilateral engagements with other nations and global partners.

The US will maintain only limited coordination with WHO to facilitate the formal exit.

"The WHO delayed declaring a global public health emergency and a pandemic during the early stages of Covid-19, costing the world critical weeks as the virus spread," a statement by US department of health and sciences said.

The statement said during the early phase, the organisation "echoed and praised China’s handling of the outbreak, despite evidence of early underreporting, suppression of information and delays in confirming human-to-human transmission."

It says asymptomatic transmission risks were initially underestimated and recognition of airborne spread came slowly, which experts say accelerated the virus’s global proliferation.

The US also criticised WHO for failing to adopt meaningful reforms in governance, political independence and coordination after Covid-19.

It alleged that these shortcomings highlighted the prioritisation of politics over independent public health action, eroding global trust in the agency.

“The WHO delayed critical decisions, allowed political considerations to compromise independent public health action and failed to implement reforms that could prevent future crises,” the joint statement said.

The US emphasised its continued commitment to global health leadership, saying it will pursue direct engagements with countries, private sector entities, non-governmental organisations and faith-based groups.

US-led initiatives will focus on emergency response, biosecurity coordination and health innovation.

According to the statement, these efforts seek to protect American citizens while also providing public health benefits to international partners.

“The US will continue its global health leadership through existing and new engagements directly with other countries and organisations, prioritising emergency response, biosecurity coordination and health innovation to protect America first while delivering benefits to partners around the world," the statement said.