Citizens will pay the price of health data as a bargaining chip in Africa

In recent weeks, Devex and other outlets have published numerous articles and opinion pieces on Kenya’s $2.5 billion health cooperation framework with the United States, a deal now halted by a Kenyan court. Some rightly raise concerns about data protection, limited public consultation, and threats to sovereignty. Others frame the agreement as pragmatic fiscal relief for the Kenyan government.

All make valid points. Taken together, however, they risk missing the bigger picture: This aid-for-trade approach affects more countries than Kenya, and personal health data should not be part of the bargain.

Indeed, while Kenya’s health cooperation agreement with the U.S. made headlines for being the first of its kind signed in 2025, it is not an isolated case. At least 13 other countries have since signed memorandums of understanding with the U.S. as part of the ‘American First’ global health strategy. As part of these agreements, exchanging development funding for long-term access to health data is not merely a technical choice: it reflects a deeper structural shift in the political economy of development cooperation. In this emerging transactional and asymmetric geopolitical order, even health data becomes strategic currency.