Overview
- Buenos Aires confirmed on March 17, 2026 that its withdrawal from the World Health Organization took effect one year after notifying the United Nations on March 17, 2025.
- Quirno announced the move on X and said Argentina aims to maintain international health collaboration without ceding sovereignty.
- President Javier Milei’s government first declared its intent to quit about a year ago, criticizing the WHO’s COVID-19 guidance as politically driven.
- Milei has publicly denounced the agency, while the WHO’s director-general previously warned that the U.S. exit earlier this year would leave countries less safe.
- Argentina’s departure, following Washington’s, has renewed debate over the durability of global health coordination and how nations will replace WHO support.