The Illinois governor, JB Pritzker, has announced that his state will join the World Health Organization’s Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN), following Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw the US from the global body in 2025.
Pritzker, a Democrat, made the announcement on Tuesday, confirming that Illinois will become part of the coordinated international network dedicated to monitoring and responding to global disease outbreaks.
“By withdrawing from the World Health Organization, 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,” Pritzker said.
He added: “By joining the World Health Organization’s coordinated network, GOARN, we are ensuring that our public health leaders – and the public – have the information, expertise and partnerships they need to protect the people of our state. Across our state and alongside valued partners around the world, Illinois will continue to put science, preparedness and people first.”
Illinois’s lieutenant governor, Juliana Stratton, echoed the governor’s remarks, saying: “We will always choose the health of our people over political grandstanding or misinformation, and we will remain focused on what keeps families and communities safe.”
Through its membership in GOARN, Illinois will gain direct access to global early-warning alerts and outbreak intelligence, as well as opportunities for technical collaboration and surge support during major public health emergencies. The state will also participate in international training programs, exercises and best-practice exchanges, Pritzker’s office said.
Illinois’s move comes after Trump made the decision to withdraw the US from the World Health Organization (WHO) upon retaking office last year. The US had been the WHO’s largest donor, accounting for about 18% of its total funding. Its departure led to the loss of nearly a quarter of the WHO’s workforce – about 2,000 jobs – from a total staff of roughly 9,400.
Trump’s withdrawal of the US drew widespread condemnation from medical organizations including the American Medical Association, as well as the UN. At the time, Trump accused the WHO of failing to act independently due to “inappropriate political influence of WHO member states”.
He also criticized the organization’s funding structure, complaining of “unfairly onerous payments” from the US, and said last January: “World Health ripped us off, everybody rips off the United States. It’s not going to happen any more.”
After the US withdrawal, Illinois joined the Governor’s Public Health Alliance last October, a coalition of 15 governors – including those from New York and California – “committed to protecting their states from the Trump administration’s erosion of trust and dismantlement of America’s public health infrastructure”.
