US Signs $2.3 Billion in Africa Health Deals Under America First Strategy

The administration says the deals protect Americans from disease threats while shifting responsibility to partner governments and safeguarding U.S. taxpayers.

Health personnel measures the arm of a child in the village of Adlale, Ethiopia, on April 6, 2022. EDUARDO SOTERAS/AFP via Getty Images

The United States has signed nearly $2.3 billion in new bilateral global health agreements with Botswana, Madagascar, Sierra Leone, and Ethiopia, the State Department said on Dec. 23, advancing the Trump administration’s America First Global Health Strategy and its push to tie foreign health aid to measurable performance and co-investment.

The four memorandums of understanding (MOU), signed on Dec. 22 and 23, commit the United States to almost $1.4 billion in health assistance, while the four African partners will collectively co-invest more than $900 million of their own resources. U.S. officials said the agreements are designed to combat priority infectious disease threats while reducing long-term reliance on American taxpayer funding.