Event Summary
On 17 March 2026, the Argentine government announced that the country has formally left the World Health Organization (WHO). The measure, which imitated the steps of the United States in its rejection of collaboration with international organizations, leaves the country out of global cooperation and financing, and isolates it from the most modern health strategies for preventing and combating diseases.
The process of withdrawing from the WHO began in February 2025 and was based on arguments holding the WHO responsible for the results of the COVID-19 pandemic and the alleged obsolescence of multilateralism. The decision was communicated to the Secretary General of the United Nations on 17 March 2025, with the withdrawal taking effect one year after the notification is made.
This pattern forms a clear pattern of withdrawal from multilateralism by the Argentine government and alignment with a foreign policy vision associated with the United States, the rejection of global cooperation frameworks, the reduction of international commitments and compliance with human rights treaties. Argentina did not sign the Pact of the Future, ignored the Sustainable Development Goals, and, in September 2025, decided not to run for the UN Human Rights Council.
The negative implications for civil society are profound and well documented by Argentine scientific and social organizations. The departure from the WHO is not just a diplomatic gesture: it weakens the country’s ability to protect public health, increases vulnerability to emergencies, and directly affects organizations, community networks, and social movements that depend on information, standards, and international cooperation. Social organizations are left with fewer tools to monitor health risks, especially in vulnerable territories, affecting feminist, community, mental health, problematic consumption and human rights networks, which tend to fill state gaps. The Forum of Scientific Societies and civil organizations warned that the withdrawal “weakens the health system and isolates the country from the world,” since CSOs usually cover the absence of the state through soup kitchens, health promoters, territorial organizations and accompaniment in situations of gender violence. By leaving the WHO, the Argentine Republic loses legitimacy and capacity for influence, which affects NGOs, universities and groups that work with international standards. In particular, it weakens projects financed by international cooperation, restricting the resources of many social organizations. In response, CSOs have called on the WHO to reject Argentina’s exit from the organization.