The U.S. has traditionally been the most generous benefactor of the WHO. A Trump executive order to cut ties with the WHO could pose a threat to global public health.

When the plague, cholera and yellow fever rippled deadly waves across a newly industrialised and interconnected world in the mid-19th century, taking a global approach to health became an imperative.

The U.S. has been a part of WHO since 1948, the year it was founded. The U.S. withdrawal makes it the only major world power to exit the 194-country health organization.

"It's a cataclysmic presidential decision," say experts, referring to President Trump's executive order to pull the country out of WHO

By Patrick Wingrove, Jennifer Rigby and Emma Farge NEW YORK/GENEVA (Reuters) - 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.

The Geneva-based WHO plays a pivotal role in battling global health threats, focusing on infectious diseases as well as humanitarian crises and chronic

The planned departure would leave the WHO scrambling to replace its top donor, which contributed $1.3 billion to the organization between 2022 and 2023.

The World Health Organization said Tuesday it "regrets" US President Donald Trump's decision—just hours after taking power—to withdraw his country from the UN agency, saying it hoped he would reconsider.

Health Director-General Dr. Patrick Amoth on Wednesday called on nations to remain united in the war against diseases even as the United States plans to pull out from the World Health Organization (WHO).

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.”

Berlin will try to talk U.S. President Donald Trump out of his decision to withdraw the United States from the World Health Organization, Germany's health minister said on Tuesday.