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Zambia has announced that it will sign a new health cooperation agreement with the United States this week, clearing the way for $1.5 billion in US funding after months of negotiations over several disputed provisions.
Health Minister Roma Chilengi said the memorandum of understanding will be signed on Thursday and will form part of a wider $3.6 billion health financing arrangement involving contributions from both the Zambian and US governments over five years.
When asked how much Washington would contribute to the agreement, Chilengi said, “It is $1.5 billion.”
Negotiations had stalled after the Zambian government said some proposed terms were unacceptable. In May, officials cited concerns, including provisions they said could give US companies preferential access to Zambia’s critical minerals, as well as questions about patient data, intellectual property and biological specimens.
Chilengi, however, said the version of the agreement the health ministry reviewed did not contain any provision linking health assistance to Zambia’s mineral resources.
“I want to be categorical, as ministry of health we never saw any MoU that spoke of critical minerals,” he said.
According to the minister, revisions have since addressed Zambia’s concerns about handling sensitive health information. He said the country would not be required to provide patient specimens and that provisions relating to individual patient data had been removed.
“Concerns around individual patient data are completely removed,” Chilengi said.
The agreement comes as Washington pursues bilateral health partnerships with African governments following the closure of the United States Agency for International Development, USAID, under President Donald Trump’s administration.
More than a dozen African countries have signed similar agreements with the United States, including Rwanda, Uganda, Lesotho and Eswatini.
Zimbabwe, however, halted negotiations over its proposed agreement, saying the terms would compromise its sovereignty and independence. The US embassy later announced that American-supported health programmes in Zimbabwe would end at the close of September.
For Zambia, Thursday’s signing is expected to formally conclude months of negotiations and establish the terms governing health financing and cooperation between the two countries over the next five years.
