The US has officially withdrawn from the World Health Organisation (WHO), leaving the UN agency without one of its biggest donors.

US President Donald Trump signed an executive order signalling the withdrawal a year ago, having criticised the organisation for being too “China-centric” during the Covid pandemic.

The US Department of Health and Human Services said it took the decision due to the WHO’s alleged “mishandling” of the pandemic, an inability to reform and political influence from member states.

The WHO has rejected these claims, and its director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said the withdrawal was a loss for the US and the world.

The organisation pointed to its global efforts to combat polio, HIV/Aids, maternal mortality, and its international treaty on tobacco control.

In the wake of the pandemic, WHO member states worked to create an international pandemic treaty designed to prevent, prepare for, and respond to future pandemics, including sharing vaccines and drugs more fairly.

The treaty was finally agreed upon in April last year by all WHO member states, apart from the US.

Washington has traditionally been one of the biggest donors to the WHO, but has not paid its fees for 2024 and 2025, which has already caused huge job losses at the organisation.

Although WHO lawyers suggest the US is obliged to pay the arrears, estimated at $260m (£193m), Washington said it saw no reason to do so.

It said that all US government funding to the WHO has been terminated, US personnel and contractors have been recalled from the WHO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland and its offices worldwide, and hundreds of US engagements with the WHO have been suspended or discontinued.

“The WHO tarnished and trashed everything that America has done for it,” a joint statement from US Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy and Secretary of State Marco Rubio said.

The pair said the organisation had “abandoned its core mission and acted repeatedly against the interests of the United States”, including failing to return the American flag based at its Geneva headquarters.

“Going forward, US engagement with the WHO will be limited strictly to effectuate our withdrawal and to safeguard the health and safety of the American people,” they added.