Illinois will join WHO's outbreak response network in defiance of Trump

Illinois will join the World Health Organization's Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN) following the United States' departure from the UN health agency last month, Governor JB Pritzker, a Democrat, said on Tuesday.
The move makes Illinois the second U.S. state to join the program in defiance of Republican President Donald Trump after California, also led by a Democratic governor, joined in January. The U.S. formally left the WHO last month after completing a one-year waiting period following an executive order that Trump signed on his first day back in office in January 2025.