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Zambia will sign a revised health agreement with the United States that will not include contentious clauses committing the African nation to share patient health data and specimens with the U.S. government.<\/p>\n
The five-year deal is worth $3.6 billion in total, combined funding from both countries for the African nation\u2019s health services, Zambian Minister of Health Roma Chilengi said at a press briefing on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
He didn\u2019t say how much the U.S. would commit. However, he told Zambian state broadcaster ZNBC on Monday the U.S. would provide $1.5 billion over five years.<\/p>\n
The U.S. has signed new bilateral health agreements with around two dozen African nations since last year, but some have pushed back on requirements to provide patient data.<\/p>\n
The African deals follow USAID cut<\/p>\n
The Trump administration is pursuing bilateral agreements with African nations under U.S. President Donald Trump\u2019s \u201cAmerica First\u201d approach after dismantling the U.S. Agency for International Development, once the world\u2019s largest humanitarian donor.<\/p>\n
The new agreements aim to commit African nations to gradually increase spending on health services while the U.S. gradually phases out its assistance.<\/p>\n
However, the clauses that commit African countries to hand over health data and specimens to the U.S. government on request have been some of the most controversial.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to announce here that the (agreement) as it stands now \u2026 has no reference to any specimen sharing conditions,\u201d said Zambia\u2019s Chilengi, adding that clauses committing Zambia to share individual health data had also been \u201ccompletely removed.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cZambia will not be obliged to share any specimen,\u201d he said. He called the U.S. a critical partner and said Zambia was grateful for the assistance.<\/p>\n
The agreement will be signed on Thursday, Chilengi said.<\/p>\n
The data sharing clauses have been controversial<\/p>\n
The U.S. has already signed health data and specimen-sharing agreements with at least nine African nations, committing them to send data and specimens within five days of a request, according to agreements published by the U.S. State Department.<\/p>\n
The U.S. says it can then give the health data and specimens to up to 10 American \u201cnon-government entities\u201d to develop diagnostics and medical treatments. The entities are not specified.<\/p>\n
The agreements say the information will help it track and prepare for new and emerging infectious diseases that have \u201cepidemic or pandemic potential.\u201d But they do not guarantee that the African nation that provided the data would benefit from any medical treatments developed.<\/p>\n
They would only receive treatments developed \u201csubject to the availability of funds\u201d and \u201cbehind the U.S. government\u2019s domestic need,\u201d according to the agreements. The African nation would also have to pay for them.<\/p>\n
Some countries have rejected the US terms<\/p>\n
In February, Zambia\u2019s neighbor, Zimbabwe, rejected a U.S. health deal partially over the data and specimen-sharing requirements.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn essence, our nation would provide the raw materials for scientific discovery without any assurance that the end products would be accessible to our people should a future health crisis emerge,\u201d Zimbabwe government spokesperson Nick Mangwana said at the time.<\/p>\n
The U.S. announced it ended all health assistance to Zimbabwe last month.<\/p>\n
Namibia, another southern African nation, also rejected some of these clauses, according to local media reports. The U.S. announced it would phase out funding for Namibia\u2019s HIV treatment and prevention program last month, though neither country publicly tied the decision to the disagreement over health data.<\/p>\n
Ghana has also issued a similar rejection.<\/p>\n
Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama said last month while in New York for the United Nations General Assembly that the U.S. wanted information about endemic diseases and the country\u2019s medical records, but Ghana would have no right to inspect medications or medical products brought into the country.<\/p>\n
Mahama said Ghana\u2019s Cabinet inspected the proposal and it was \u201cthrown out in record time.\u201d<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
Imray reported from Cape Town, South Africa.<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
For more on Africa and development: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/africa-pulse<\/p>\n
The Associated Press receives financial support for global health and development coverage in Africa from the Gates Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP\u2019s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.<\/p>\n
#Zambia #sign #revised #U.S #health #deal #patient #data #specimensharing #clauses<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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