The White House on Tuesday has activated the process of withdrawing the United States from the World Health Organization (WHO), which is scheduled to be implemented within a year. "The U.S. withdrawal notice, which will take place on 6 July 2021, has already been sent to the UN Secretary-General, the WHO depositary," a White House official told EFE, asking for anonymity.

The source has not given more details about the withdrawal procedure, but US President Donald Trump announced at the end of May that he took the decision to "break" with the international organization and allocate the funds to "other public health needs."

The spokesman for UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres confirmed in a statement that he received the notification on Monday and that he is now "in the process of verifying whether all the requirements for withdrawal are met".

Guterres' spokesman Stéphane Dujarric explained that when he joined the WHO in 1948, the United States established "a set of conditions" to withdraw, including prior one-year communication and "full compliance with its financial obligations". The entry into force of the measure within a year also means that the withdrawal from the United States can be suspended if Trump loses the November elections and his successor so decides.

"What is now being done can be suspended next year, because it will not be final," a UN diplomat said to CNN in a statement.

“For China”

In April, Trump temporarily frozen U.S. funds. United States targets the WHO, which accuses it of "being aligned in favor of China" and of "having mismanaged" the health emergency of COVID-19. Until then, the major donors of WHO were the United States, which contributed between $400 and $500 million a year, approximately 15 per cent of the total budget of the entity.