Zambia and the United States finally signed a bilateral health aid agreement on Thursday (8 October) – after a 10-month delay as the US pushed for better access to the country’s minerals and changes to mining and agricultural regulations in exchange for health aid.
In 2024, 84% of Zambia’s HIV programme was funded by PEPFAR – and 1.3 million Zambians are on antiretroviral medicines to keep their HIV in check.
But Zambian Minister of Foreign Affairs Mulambo Haimbe told reporters at the signing ceremony that the country is negotiating a separate critical minerals agreement with the US. Zambia is one of the world’s biggest copper producers and also has large deposits of lithium and cobalt.
Source : Health Policy Watch
Are you living with HIV/AIDS? Are you part of a community affected by HIV/AIDS and co-infections? Do you work or volunteer in the field? Are you motivated by our cause and interested to support our work?
Stay in the loop and get all the important EATG updates in your inbox with the EATG newsletter. The HIV & co-infections bulletin is your source of handpicked news from the field arriving regularly to your inbox.