U.S. To End Health Aid To Zimbabwe After Funding Talks Collapse
HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — The United States says it will begin ending health aid to Zimbabwe after negotiations on a proposed multimillion-dollar bilateral financing deal collapsed.
Government spokesman Nick Mangwana said on Wednesday that Zimbabwe’s decision was motivated by data sharing concerns, justice, sovereignty and concerns about Washington’s broad drift away from global health institutions.
The US is offering $367 million over five years to support Zimbabwe’s priority health programs, including HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention, tuberculosis, malaria, maternal and child health, and preparedness for disease outbreaks, the US embassy said. zimbabwe in question.
U.S. Ambassador Pamela Tremont said Tuesday that the proposed agreement would represent the largest potential health investment in Zimbabwe by any international partner and would “provide extraordinary benefits to Zimbabwean communities, particularly the 1.2 million men, women and children currently receiving HIV treatment through U.S.-supported programs.”
“We will now turn to the difficult and distressing task of ending our health assistance in Zimbabwe,” he said, adding that Zimbabwe had indicated it was ready to continue its fight against HIV independently. “We wish them good luck,” Tremont said.
The United States has been Zimbabwe’s largest bilateral health donor for years, providing nearly $2 billion in aid since 2006. The United States states that Zimbabwe is “directly responsible” for the success of meeting the United Nations’ goals for HIV treatment, testing and viral load suppression.
Zimbabwe begins rolling out lenacapavirIt is a long-acting HIV prevention medication administered twice a year. Dissemination, the President of the United States’ Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFARIt raises questions about future deliveries under the program in partnership with the Global Fund.
Zimbabwean officials said the financing offer had conditions they could not accept.
Mangwana said the US offer was linked to “comprehensive access to Zimbabwe’s sensitive health data, including virus samples and epidemiological information from our citizens.”
He said President Emmerson Mnangagwa ordered the talks to end because the US did not offer “guarantees of access to any medical innovations such as vaccines, diagnostics or treatments that may result from these shared data.”
“The United States was not offering to exchange its epidemiological data with our health authorities,” Mangwana added. “In effect, our nation will provide raw materials for scientific discoveries without any assurance that the final products will be accessible to our people should a future health crisis arise.”
The Zimbabwe College of Public Health Physicians has called for talks to continue, arguing that US funding for “critical components” of Zimbabwe’s public health system should continue.
“Sudden cessation of such support may lead to the risk of interruption of treatment, increased transmission, emergence of drug resistance and additional burden on the healthcare system,” the university said in a statement.
Like many low-income countries, Zimbabwe is grappling with the effects of aid cuts under President Donald Trump, but some programs continue under PEPFAR. in the USA in January Withdrew from the World Health Organization part of a broader restructuring of global health engagement.
Under the new US framework, the Trump administration began implementing bilateral “America First” health financing agreements, replacing arrangements previously coordinated through the US. now dismantled US Agency for International Development.
The US embassy in Zimbabwe said agreements worth more than $18 billion had been signed with 16 African countries, but recipient countries would contribute about $7.1 billion of that amount as part of a US effort to encourage countries to invest more in their health sectors.
several countries We have already entered into new agreements. Nigeria reached an agreement that emphasized Christian-based health facilities. Rwanda and Uganda also signed agreements; Some agreements, including those with Rwanda and Ivory Coast, include provisions for U.S. private sector investments.
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Zimbabwean officials criticized the bilateral model as “a departure from multilateral frameworks” and said data on viruses with pandemic potential should only be shared through the WHO system.
“This system is designed to ensure that when a country contributes its data, the benefits, including vaccines and treatments, are shared fairly and not just commercialized by those with the resources to develop them,” Mangwana said.
