Rising anger in Africa over 'lopsided' US health funding agreements

There is growing anger over a series of bilateral health agreements being negotiated between the United States and African countries.

The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said on Thursday that there is particular concern around data governance and pathogen sharing.

Its Director-General, Jean Kaseya, warned that African countries could be required to share sensitive pathogen and health data with the US as a condition of receiving funding.

This would not, however, guarantee that resulting vaccines, diagnostics, or treatments would be equitably accessible to the countries that provided the data.

His remarks follow pushback from several African governments.

Earlier this week, Zimbabwe pulled out of talks on a proposed $367 million US health agreement, citing concerns over the sharing of sensitive health data and describing the deal as “unequal”.

Zambia has also delayed signing its agreement, questioning terms that could affect national interests, including provisions on data and related medical resources.

The Trump administration is pursuing these bilateral health deals as part of its America First global health strategy, following the dismantling of most of its development agency, USAID.

At least 17 African countries are believed to have signed deals so far with the US, collectively securing $11.3bn in aid.

Bu there are deep concerns over the concessions they made to Washington in return – including some that are unrelated to health.

In Nigeria, for example, is appears that funding is contingent on authorities tackling what Trump refers to as the persecution of Christians in the country.

Meanwhile Zambia’s deal reportedly involves US access to its strategic mining resources.

The deals also commit African nations to rely on US regulatory approval of new drugs and technologies before rolling them out.