On January 22nd, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services stated that the United States is officially out of the World Health Organization or, WHO. President Donald Trump gave notice of the country’s departure from the organization immediately following his second term.  Now, since the U.S. is indefinitely out of WHO, what are medicinal advancements set to look like for Americans and the rest of the world?

Historically, the U.S. along with WHO have been leading contributors to finding cures for debilitating diseases such as polio, influenza, HIV, tuberculosis, and others. Though, numerous officials have expressed concern about how imperative diseases will be treated now that major funding from the U.S. will not be provided to WHO. Infectious disease physician, Dr. Judd Walson, stated that WHO has had to “downsize considerably” following the removal of U.S. funding from the organization. This subsequently limits the amount of testing and vital equipment that WHO is able to supply. He estimated over “750,000 excess deaths” as a key result of this separation from WHO.

Additionally, the World Health Organization’s Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, spoke about the recent changes claiming this “makes both the U.S. and the world less safe”. However, despite these claims, the U.S. ensures that they will still work to protect people from countless diseases. Even though they will be disconnected from WHO, the United States expressed they will continue to collaborate with numerous countries on studying and uncovering cures for diseases. So then why is the United States pulling out of the World Health Organization?

The split between the two can be contributed to the U.S. feeling as though they didn’t receive enough in return for all the contributions they’ve invested into the organization. They cited claiming that WHO took improper action during the Covid-19 pandemic and have acted in opposition to American interests. WHO, however, denies these allegations and claims that the U.S. reasons to separate are all false. No matter the motive for separation, WHO claimed that they will continue to stay committed to providing the “highest attainable standard of health as a fundamental right for all people.”