Truth or Rumor: Cancer Cures Increased Since America Left the World Health Organization
"My theory is the USA's presence in the WHO was merely just there to stunt the growth of medical science."
Published Feb. 10 2026, 2:22 p.m. ET
In 2025, U.S. President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order to initiate America's withdrawal from the World Health Organization (WHO), which was effective as of January 2026. Since then, social media users have peddled a conspiracy theory that the WHO has consequently discovered (or, more accurately, now has the autonomy to announce) new cures for cancer.
Is there any merit to the observation that the WHO has been announcing new cures for cancer since America's withdrawal from the agency?
Below, we clarify the timeline of the United States Government's withdrawal from the WHO, as well as whether or not new cures for cancer have emerged since then.
Continue reading to learn more about President Trump's controversial actions to withdraw America from the WHO, as well as what trends have been observed in cancer research since then.
Has the World Health Organization found new cures for cancer?
According to a Feb. 3 WHO News Release, a global analysis from the WHO and its associated International Agency for Research on Cancer revealed that up to four in 10 cancer cases worldwide could be prevented. Data from 185 countries and 36 cancer types showed that tobacco is the leading preventable cause of cancer.
That is about the extent of new news on the WHO's cancer-curing front. However, that hasn't stopped social media users from republishing old news and framing it as new cancer cures.
"As incredible (and bizarre) as it would have been for a bunch of different cancers to suddenly be cured in the last few weeks, the reality is a little bit more boring (and sad)," notes the Daily Dot.
To be perfectly clear, news of promising breakthroughs in cancer research from recent years have resurfaced, with social media users inaccurately portraying the news as both new and as testament to new cancer cures that have emerged in 2026.
America formally left the World Health Organization in January 2026.
America's participation in the WHO has been a back-and-forth match between Presidents Trump and Biden from 2020-2021, with President Trump ultimately dealing the final blow when he took office for his second term.
On Jan. 20, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14155, which formally began the process of America's withdrawal from the WHO.
"The Presidential Letter to the Secretary-General of the United Nations signed on January 20, 2021, that retracted the United States’ July 6, 2020, notification of withdrawal is revoked," according to the Presidential Action page accompanying the announcement in 2025.
Then, according to a Fact Sheet published on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services website, "Following the required one-year notice period, the United States Government formally exited from WHO on January 22, 2026."
Social media users have gone viral for claiming new cancer cures have emerged in 2026.
While it makes for interesting social media fodder, it simply is not accurate to claim that cancer cures that were once suppressed by America's involvement in the WHO have suddenly been publicized in the wake of President Trump's withdrawal from the agency.
In fact, one Facebook group with more than 135,000 followers inaccurately portrayed that cures for such diseases as leukemia, colon cancer, pancreatic cancer, and deadly brain tumors have all been accepted medically.
"My theory is the USA's presence in the WHO was merely just there to stunt the growth of medical science. And to keep a finger on the pulse of new and inventive medication, so that they knew what was being developed and could plan on how to monetize it before public knowledge," according to one user on X.
While there very well may be suspicious and corrupt actions going on behind closed doors, it isn't necessarily accurate to say that the WHO has suddenly confirmed several cancer cures in 2026.