The World Health Organisation chief warned Tuesday that Washington’s decision to withdraw from the UN health agency was dangerous for the United States and the rest of the world alike.
US President Donald Trump signed an executive order just hours after returning to the White House on January 20, 2025, ordering his country’s exit from the WHO.
With the one-year withdrawal process due to reach completion next week, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters he deeply regretted the move.
“Withdrawal from WHO is a loss for the United States, and it’s also a loss for the rest of the world,” he said, speaking from his agency’s Geneva headquarters.
The withdrawal, he warned, “makes the US unsafe… and makes the rest of the world unsafe, so it’s not really the right decision.”
Tedros highlighted that “there are many things that are done through WHO that benefit the US… especially the health security issues.”
“That’s why I said the US cannot be safe without working with WHO,” he said.
