US completes WHO withdrawal, ending 78-year membership and leaving $130 million debt

WASHINGTON — Federal officials confirmed Thursday that the United States has completed its withdrawal from the World Health Organization (WHO), terminating a 78-year partnership with the global health agency.

The move comes one year after President Trump announced the exit on the first day of his second term.

Despite the formal departure, the separation remains incomplete. According to the WHO, the U.S. still owes more than $130 million in outstanding debt to the organization.

The Trump administration also acknowledged that several logistical hurdles remain, including the loss of access to international data that serves as an early warning system for potential pandemics.

Public health experts issued scathing warnings regarding the move. Lawrence Gostin of Georgetown University called the exit "the most disastrous presidential decision in my lifetime."

Dr. Judd Walson of Johns Hopkins University estimated that the U.S. withdrawal could lead to more than 750,000 excess deaths this year—primarily among children—as the WHO faces significant resource cuts.

The Trump administration cited the WHO’s mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic and its perceived lack of independence from political influence as the primary reasons for the withdrawal.

The departure is expected to cripple several global health initiatives, from the eradication of polio to the identification of new virus strains necessary for annual flu vaccines.

The U.S. withdrawal from the World Health Organization (WHO) represents more than a symbolic gesture; it is a tectonic shift in global health policy under a second Trump administration. This departure creates a profound vacuum in both financing and expertise that no other nation is positioned to fill. As the WHO’s primary benefactor, the United States not only contributes hundreds of millions of dollars annually but also provides the backbone of the agency’s technical operations through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The administration’s pivot toward bilateral health agreements over multilateral frameworks is a high-stakes gamble. Policy experts argue that securing direct data-sharing pacts—particularly with nations like China, the frequent epicenter of emerging viruses—is a diplomatic near-impossibility. Such isolationist positioning risks stripping the U.S. of its historical leadership, potentially relegating it to the "back of the line" for access to vaccines and therapeutics during future pandemics.

For Vietnam, the consequences are indirect but substantial over the long term. A weakened WHO undermines regional technical assistance and emergency response capabilities. Having historically relied on international coordination to navigate public health crises, Hanoi now faces a global landscape that is increasingly fragmented and inefficient. Without a robust central mechanism for pathogen surveillance and information sharing, Vietnam’s public health infrastructure will be left significantly more vulnerable to the next cross-border outbreak.

The U.S. withdrawal from global health frameworks like the WHO poses a direct threat to the safety of all Americans, including the Vietnamese-American community. When the identification of new flu strains is delayed or vaccine development for future pandemics is slowed, every family—from those recently arriving on F2B visas to those long-established here—is put at risk. For a community built on the success of small businesses, from bustling phở restaurants to the nail salon industry, our daily face-to-face interactions with the public make health security a top priority. In neighborhoods like Little Saigon, where community life centers on close-knit social and business ties, any lapse in global health monitoring is a practical concern that directly impacts our physical health and our economic stability.