London: The U.S. is due to officially exit the World Health ⁠Organization on Thursday, in the face of warnings it will hit both U.S. health and global health and also in violation of a U.S. law that requires Washington to pay the U.N. health agency $260 million in fees that it owes.President Donald Trump gave notice that the U.S. would quit the organization on the ‌first day of his ‌presidency in 2025, via an executive order. "This is a clear violation of U.S. law," said Lawrence Gostin, founding director of the O'Neill Institute for Global Health Law at Georgetown University in Washington, a close observer of the WHO. "The world needs the World Health Organization. Washington has traditionally been by far the U.N. health agency's biggest financial backer, contributing around 18% of its overall funding. It was unclear how the collaboration will work going forward.Global health experts said this posed risks for the U.S., the WHO and the world.

Source: Economic Times January 22, 2026 11:16 UTC