US health agreements across the continent promise funding, but demand access to sensitive data and pathogen samples with few guarantees of equitable benefit-sharing.
Al Jazeera: Opinion piece by Tafi Mhaka
According to tracking by the Kaiser Family Foundation, a US-based independent health policy research organisation, the United States has signed more than 20 memoranda of understanding with African governments, with implementation timelines running from 2026 to 2030 and total commitments approaching $20bn.
A significant share of that funding is expected to come from African governments themselves, allowing Washington to market the model as partnership while deepening asymmetry, fiscal pressure and dependence. At least 17 African countries have already concluded similar agreements, many with fragile health budgets and little negotiating leverage.
These pacts finance programmes against HIV/AIDS, TB, Ebola and malaria while strengthening disease surveillance systems, laboratory capacity and outbreak preparedness.
Nonetheless, they shift bargaining power sharply towards Washington.
African public health systems could become upstream suppliers of biological information, while the downstream benefits — intellectual property, pharmaceutical manufacturing and commercial profits — remain concentrated in wealthier countries.
Read the full opinion piece here.
Source : Al Jazeera
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