President Donald Trump gave notice that the US would quit the organization on the first day of his presidency in 2025, via an executive order. Under US law, it has to give one-year notice and pay all outstanding fees before departure.

The US has failed to pay its WHO membership dues of 260.6 million USD for the past two years 2024 and 2025 in violation of a 1948 agreement with the body.

On Thursday, a US State Department spokesperson said the WHO's failure to contain, manage and share information had cost the US trillions of dollars and the president had exercised his authority to pause the future transfer of any US government funds, support, or resources to the WHO.

With the loss of its largest donor, WHO had to implement drastic financial reforms to stay afloat, cutting posts by around 22%.