On Jan. 23, Governor Newsom announced that California has become the first and only state to join the World Health Organization (WHO)’s Global Outbreak Alert & Response Network (GOARN) an international system of over 250 public health institutions, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and UN agencies, that quickly detects and responds to global public health emergencies. This partnership directly followed the Trump administration’s Jan. 22 announcement that the U.S. has completed its withdrawal from the WHO.
Since its inception in 2000, GOARN has actively addressed public health crises, particularly those with pandemic or cross-border potential. GOARN’s most notable responses include those to the major Ebola outbreak in Uganda; SARS in East Asia; Pakistan’s 2022 floods; and most recently, COVID-19.
The U.S. is a founding member of the WHO. Following tensions regarding the agency’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, President Trump initially started the process of withdrawing the U.S. from WHO in July 2020, nearing the end of his first term. Though President Joe Biden reversed this action in January 2021 by signing an executive order upon inauguration, President Trump announced the U.S.’s plan to leave the agency again on Jan. 20, 2025, the day he was sworn into his second term.
During the yearlong process of withdrawal, the U.S. stopped funding WHO, withdrew all personnel, and pivoted activities previously conducted with WHO — including collaboration with GOARN — to bilateral engagements with other nations.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and GOARN joined forces on operations for over two decades since GOARN’s founding. Withdrawal from WHO suspends the cooperation between the organizations.
“WHO regrets the United States’ notification of withdrawal from WHO — a decision that makes both the United States and the world less safe,” WHO said in a public statement on Jan. 24. “We hope that in the future, the United States will return to active participation in WHO.”
California was the first state to announce that it would not wait for the possibility of the entire nation to re-join the WHO. Its GOARN membership followed a January meeting between Newsom and WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreysus during the World Economic Forum in Switzerland, where the two discussed cooperation on disease surveillance and response.
“The Trump Administration’s withdrawal from WHO is a reckless decision that will hurt all Californians and Americans,” Newsom said in a statement on Jan. 26. “California will not bear witness to the chaos this decision will bring.”
After California announced its membership, Illinois followed suit on Feb. 3, becoming the second U.S. state to join GOARN. Two days later on Feb. 5, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene also announced GOARN membership, becoming the first municipal health department in the U.S. to do so.
“By withdrawing from the [WHO], Donald Trump has undermined science and weakened our nation’s ability to detect and respond to global health threats. I refuse to sit idly by and let that happen,” Illinois Governor JB Pritzker said.
