Health Policy Watch | Despite the deadline, US bilateral health deals not ready for implementation

Health Policy Watch news story

Although the United States’ bilateral health memorandums of understanding (MOUs) with 35 countries are due to come into effect on Thursday (1 October), the start of the US fiscal year, the money will not flow yet – as countries have until Friday to submit their final 2027 budgets.

And while US officials have hailed the agreements as promoting countries’ self-reliance, Ghana’s President said his country refused to sign an MOU as the terms were “humiliating” and would compromise his country’s sovereignty.

The US has committed around $14 billion for the MOUs, in terms of its America First Global Health Strategy, which replaces grants from the now-defunct US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).

However, country teams have until Friday (2 October) – the day after the start of the US government fiscal year –  to submit new documentation of “budget allocations, organisational charts and commodity procurement plans” for the 2027 fiscal year, according to author Emily Bass, who has been tracking the MOUs closely.

Clearly, the MOUs are not on track for implementation, and countries will have to wait – again – for their funds.

Read the full news story here.