Nigeria signs healthcare deal with US under new global health framework

Nigeria has become the latest African nation to agree to a deal with the United States to strengthen the country’s healthcare system.

It’s aimed at replacing previous agreements under the now-dismantled US Agency for International Development (USAID).

Under the five-year deal, Nigeria needs to raise $2.9 billion to boost priority health services and will receive $2 billion from the US.

"We're here because there's a moment in time when we need to close on the memorandum of understanding to be signed between the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the government of the United States of America, to deepen our cooperation in health, to strengthen health security and resilience," Nigeria's Health Minister, Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate, said on Friday as he signed a bilateral Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the US Ambassador to Nigeria in Abuja.

"And this is one more milestone in a journey that started several months ago. When we kicked off a re-engagement and negotiations between the United States government side and the Nigerian government side.”

Under the deal, Nigeria will get support that has a strong emphasis on Christian faith-based healthcare providers, although it has a slight majority Muslim population.

"This MOU is a testament to the enduring health partnership between our two nations. It builds on a strong foundation, and it boldly deepens our cooperation, aligning our efforts more closely than ever before," said US Ambassador Richard Mills, Jr. "And it ensures that our investments, Nigeria and United States, will deliver sustainable impact.”

US funding reductions

The US is signing deals with at least nine African countries whose health systems were crippled after cuts to USAID.

Other partners including Rwanda, Uganda and Eswatini that have entered similar agreements with US have previously agreed to receive third-country deportees from the Trump administration.

According to the Center for Global Development, a Washington think tank, the deals “combine US funding reductions, ambitious co-financing expectations, and a shift toward direct government-to-government assistance.”

The deals represent a reduction in total US health spending for each country, the center said, with annual US financial support down 49 percent compared with 2024.