By Nina Larson, AFP
The World Health Organization (WHO) headquarters, Geneva, 2021. Photo: FABRICE COFFRINI / AFP
The head of the UN's health agency pushed back against Washington's stated reasons for withdrawing from the World Health Organization (WHO), dismissing US criticism as "untrue".
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Saturday (local time) warned that the US announcement this week that it had formally withdrawn from the WHO "makes both the US and the world less safe".
And in a post on X, he added: "Unfortunately, the reasons cited for the US decision to withdraw from WHO are untrue."
As a founding member of @WHO, the United States of America has contributed significantly to many of WHO’s greatest achievements, including the eradication of smallpox. WHO has always engaged with the US, and all Member States, with full respect for their sovereignty.… pic.twitter.com/5Zvik5TVo6
— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) January 24, 2026
"WHO has always engaged with the US, and all Member States, with full respect for their sovereignty."
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and US Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr announced in a joint statement Thursday that Washington had formally withdrawn from the WHO.
They accused the agency of numerous "failures during the Covid-19 pandemic" and of acting "repeatedly against the interests of the United States".
The WHO has not yet confirmed that the US withdrawal has taken effect.
'Trashed and tarnished'
The two US officials said the WHO had "trashed and tarnished" the US and had compromised its independence.
"The reverse is true," the WHO said in a statement.
"As we do with every Member State, WHO has always sought to engage with the United States in good faith."
The agency strenuously rejected the accusation from Rubio and Kennedy that its Covid-19 response had "obstructed the timely and accurate sharing of critical information that could have saved American lives and then concealed those failures".
Kennedy also suggested in a video posted to X Friday that the WHO was responsible for "the Americans who died alone in nursing homes [and] the small businesses that were destroyed by reckless mandates" to wear masks and get vaccinated.
US Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr suggested the WHO was responsible for "the Americans who died alone in nursing homes". File photo. Photo: ALEX WONG / AFP
The US withdrawal, he insisted, was about "protecting American sovereignty, and putting US public health back in the hands of the American people".
Tedros warned on X that the statement "contains inaccurate information".
"Throughout the pandemic, WHO acted quickly, shared all information it had rapidly and transparently with the world, and advised Member States on the basis of the best available evidence," the agency said.
"WHO recommended the use of masks, vaccines and physical distancing, but at no stage recommended mask mandates, vaccine mandates or lockdowns," it added.
"We supported sovereign governments to make decisions they believed were in the best interests of their people, but the decisions were theirs."
Withdrawal 'raises issues'
The row came as Washington struggled to dislodge itself from the WHO, a year after US President Donald Trump signed an executive order to that effect.
The one-year withdrawal process reached completion on Thursday, but Kennedy and Rubio regretted in their statement that the UN health agency had "not approved our withdrawal and, in fact, claims that we owe it compensation".
WHO has highlighted that when Washington joined the organisation in 1948, it reserved the right to withdraw, as long as it gave one year's notice and had met "its financial obligations to the organisation in full for the current fiscal year".
But Washington has not paid its 2024 or 2025 dues, and is behind around $260 million.
"The notification of withdrawal raises issues," WHO said Saturday, adding that the topic would be examined during the WHO executive board meeting next month and by the annual World Health Assembly meeting in May.
"We hope the US will return to active participation in WHO in the future," Tedros said Saturday.
"Meanwhile, WHO remains steadfastly committed to working with all countries in pursuit of its core mission and constitutional mandate: the highest attainable standard of health as a fundamental right for all people."
- AFP
