Zambia has signed a five-year health financing agreement with the United States worth about $1.5 billion, ending months of controversy over allegations that the country was trading citizens’ medical data, biological specimens and mineral interests in exchange for aid.
The memorandum of understanding, signed in Lusaka on Thursday alongside a separate data-sharing agreement, commits the US to provide approximately $1.5 billion in support for Zambia’s health sector over the next five years, with the Zambian government also making financial contributions.
The agreement brings to a close a heated public debate that followed the leakage of an earlier draft, which critics said contained provisions that could have compromised the privacy of citizens’ health information.
Civil society organisations and activists also raised concerns over reports that US health funding was being linked to preferential access for American companies to Zambia’s mineral resources.
Government officials say the final version of the agreement has been substantially revised to address concerns over privacy, intellectual property rights and the sharing of benefits arising from health research.
Health Minister Roma Chilengi said earlier this week that provisions requiring Zambia to send biological specimens to the US had been removed from the text.
The Zambia-US agreement comes amid a broader shift in Washington’s approach to overseas assistance following the closure of the US Agency for International Development.
President Donald Trump had criticised the agency for what he described as wasteful spending and the US has since pursued new bilateral financing arrangements that require partner governments to assume a greater share of responsibility for funding health programmes.
Several African countries, including Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, have already concluded similar agreements with Washington.
However, the approach has faced resistance elsewhere on the continent. Ghana and Zimbabwe are among the countries that reportedly declined proposed arrangements because of concerns over conditions related to the sharing of health data and biological specimens.
JN/APA