A data-sharing clause derailed US-Zimbabwe health talks. Now all funding ends this month
HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — The United States will end funding for Zimbabwe’s health programs at the end of September following the collapse of negotiations over a U.S.-proposed deal that Zimbabwe rejected in part over a requirement to share sensitive health data, the U.S. Embassy said Friday.
An embassy spokesperson in Harare confirmed the decision and released remarks delivered this week by U.S. Ambassador Pamela Tremont at an event titled “Beyond assistance."
Tremont said the end of U.S.-supported health programs followed “Zimbabwe’s decision to decline a bilateral health MOU." She added that the U.S. will now shift its relations with Zimbabwe “from one largely focused on health and humanitarian assistance, to one built on broader economic, trade and investment opportunities.”
Zimbabwe is among the first countries to face the consequences of Washington’s new approach of tying health aid to bilateral country-to-country agreements.
The withdrawal casts uncertainty over programs to combat HIV and other diseases in a country where shortages often force patients to bring basic supplies such as bandages to clinics and buy their own medicines.
For decades, the U.S. has been Zimbabwe’s largest health donor, supporting HIV prevention and treatment, tuberculosis and malaria programs, clinical care, laboratory systems, health workers, medical supplies and community-based programs.
Zimbabwean officials have raised concerns over diminishing international aid, saying the country would prioritize raising funds domestically as assistance from the U.S. and other Western countries dries up. Some health advocates, however, question whether Zimbabwe’s financially troubled government can absorb the costs.
“Zimbabweans have already been suffering gravely as a result of abrupt disruptions to lifesaving malaria, tuberculosis, and HIV programs caused by the U.S. stop work orders and USAID award terminations in 2025," said Asia Russell, executive director of Health GAP, an international advocacy group. “This deadly decision will trigger a public health catastrophe,” she added.
The dispute dates to February, when both countries announced the collapse of talks on a bilateral deal proposed under U.S. President Donald Trump’s “America First” approach to foreign aid.
Zimbabwe government spokesperson Nick Mangwana said the proposal contained conditions the country could not accept, citing concerns over data sharing, fairness, sovereignty and Washington’s shift away from global health institutions.
According to Mangwana, the proposal was tied to “comprehensive access to Zimbabwe’s sensitive health data, including virus samples and epidemiological information from our citizens.”
Namibia also rejected a bilateral agreement with the U.S. because of concerns about provisions for sharing health data and biological specimens, local media reported. In early September, the U.S. said it would start phasing out its financial support for Namibia’s HIV response programs. The U.S. will provide Namibia with $45 million for its HIV response in fiscal 2027 before shifting to “technical cooperation,” the two governments said in September, but did not cite the health data fallout as the reason for the development.
African governments have in recent months increasingly called for “health sovereignty,” reflecting efforts to finance and manage their health systems with less reliance on foreign aid.
Africa CDC has described the continent as facing “an unprecedented financing crisis,” saying official development assistance to Africa has halved over the last five years.
Under the Trump administration’s new approach, Washington has been negotiating country-by-country health agreements that it says will reduce donor dependency and increase domestic financing. So far, 35 countries have signed such agreements, the majority in Africa, according to KFF, a U.S. health-policy research organization tracking the deals.
At least four African countries — Ghana, Zambia, South Africa and Zimbabwe — have publicly resisted or failed to conclude new U.S. bilateral health agreements, while Kenya’s agreement has faced a legal challenge.
Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama said Friday the U.S. wanted information about endemic diseases and the country's medical records and that Ghana would have no right to inspect medications or medical products brought into the country.
Mahama was in New York for high-level meetings and the general debate of the United Nations General Assembly. Speaking at the Council on Foreign Relations, he said the U.S. proposal was taken to the Cabinet and “thrown out in record time.”
“I've never seen anything thrown out as fast as that,” he said.
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AP Writer Jennifer McDermott contributed to this report from New York.
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