Ooh, that’s a big one,” Donald Trump said Monday as he signed an executive order – one of dozens during his first hours as president – to withdraw the United States from the World Health Organization.

More than half of Americans believe the U.S. benefits from its membership in the WHO. As of April 2024, 25% of U.S. adults say the country benefits a great deal from its membership, while about one-third say it benefits a fair amount. Conversely, 38% say the U.S. does not benefit much or at all from WHO membership.

President Donald Trump has used one of the flurry of executive actions that he issued on his first day back in the White House to begin the process of withdrawing the U.S. from the World Health Organi

The World Health Organization is shaped by its members: 194 countries that set health priorities and make agreements about how to share critical data, treatments, and vaccines during international emergencies.

President Donald Trump announced Monday he is withdrawing the US from the World Health Organization, a significant move on his first day back in the White House cutting ties with the United Nations’ public health agency and drawing criticism from public health experts.

Public health experts say U.S. withdrawal from the W.H.O. would undermine the nation’s standing as a global health leader and make it harder to fight the next pandemic.

The United States will leave the World Health Organization, President Donald Trump said on Monday, saying the global health agency had mishandled the COVID-19 pandemic and other international health crises.

WHO’s constitution, drafted in New York, doesn’t have a clear exit method for member states. A joint resolution by Congress in 1948 outlined that the U.S. can withdraw with one year's notice. This is contingent, however, on ensuring that its financial obligations to WHO “shall be met in full for the organization’s current fiscal year.”