U.S., Congo sign $1.2 billion health partnership
The United States and the Democratic Republic of Congo agreed to a $1.2 billion health partnership on Thursday, with the two governments announcing the deal in a joint statement. The announcement came with details on funding levels, including a commitment from the U.S. Department of State to provide up to $900 million over five years for health priorities in Congo.
In the statement, the U.S. Department of State said the partnership is intended to support efforts to fight HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, along with other infectious diseases. The statement also tied the programming to reductions in maternal and child mortality, placing those goals alongside the infectious-disease targets.
Congo, for its part, said it would increase domestic health spending as part of the agreement. The governments’ joint statement said Congo would commit to adding $300 million to its own health expenditures over the same five-year period.
The new partnership is described as part of a broader set of agreements the U.S. has signed with African countries. The AP report said it is the latest deal the U.S. has entered with more than a dozen African nations, many of which have faced U.S. aid cuts that officials and aid observers said have weakened health systems.
The State Department described the partnerships as part of what the Trump administration calls an “America First” approach to global health funding. The AP report said the administration characterized the deals as aimed at increasing self-sufficiency and eliminating what it calls ideological priorities and waste in international assistance.
The announcement also comes in the context of a shift in U.S. foreign aid structures, with the AP report saying the deals replace a patchwork of earlier health agreements conducted under the now-dismantled U.S. Agency for International Development.
A separate dispute over the terms of some health agreements is also in the background of the Congo announcement. On the same day as the Congo deal, Africa CDC raised concerns about provisions in some U.S.-linked agreements that require countries to share data with Washington on viruses that could trigger outbreaks in their borders as a condition for receiving funding.
Africa CDC director-general Dr. Jean Kaseya said there were “huge concerns regarding data, regarding pathogen sharing,” the AP report said. The report added that negotiations on a health funding deal between the U.S. and Zimbabwe collapsed after Zimbabwe rejected a requirement to share sensitive health data, and it said it was unclear whether similar requirements were part of the Congo partnership.
The AP report said the State Department had signed 19 bilateral global health partnerships with African countries as of Thursday.