Shortly after the United States announced its withdrawal of financial support from the World Health Organization (WHO) following Donald Trump’s electoral victory, the UN health agency issued a concerning warning about the fragility of the global health system and the growing risk of a “new pandemic.”
The U.S. pullout results in the immediate loss of approximately one-fifth of the organization’s operational budget. The United States was the WHO’s top donor in the 2022–2023 biennium, contributing $1.28 billion—roughly 15% of the agency’s total budget. The WHO’s approved budget for 2022–2023 was $6.73 billion, though actual financing—including emergency funds—exceeded $8.9 billion. Less than 25% of the total came from mandatory contributions by member states; the remainder consisted of voluntary donations, often earmarked for specific projects. Among the top donors were the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation ($689 million), GAVI Alliance ($500 million), and the European Commission ($412 million), raising concerns about the influence of private and geopolitical interests on the organization’s health agenda, as a The Lancet analysis also pointed out.
In response to this structural fragility, in 2022 WHO member states agreed to gradually increase assessed contributions to cover 50% of the base budget by 2030—up from the current 16%. This context becomes even more significant considering the recent adoption by the WHO member nations of an international instrument aimed at strengthening preparedness for future pandemics. While presented as a tool for ensuring better coordinated responses, critics warn that, in the hands of a financially unbalanced and increasingly politicized organization, this framework could be used to impose global health directives without proper democratic oversight.
The WHO maintains that the threat of new pandemics remains real and that the world needs strong structures to anticipate them. However, the timing of these warnings—coinciding with the agency’s loss of financial support from Washington—has not gone unnoticed.
