The United States is on a rapid-fire quest to sign dozens of new bilateral health agreements with countries in the coming weeks. In the past week, it’s inked deals with Kenya, Rwanda, Liberia, and Uganda.
This is part of the new “America First” global health strategy that prioritizes direct agreements with governments as opposed to funneling money through nongovernmental organizations. It also aims to leverage faith-based organizations and the private sector.
But concerns around this process are mounting. Forty-six civil society organizations published a letter to African government leaders on Wednesday expressing wide-ranging concerns around the deals in areas such as data sovereignty — and stating the terms are dictated by the U.S. and not by African interests. They wrote that the agreements have a “rushed timeline and extremely limited inclusion of civil society.”
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About the author
Sara Jervingsarajerving
Sara Jerving is a Senior Reporter at Devex, where she covers global health. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, VICE News, and Bloomberg News among others. Sara holds a master's degree from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism where she was a Lorana Sullivan fellow. She was a finalist for One World Media's Digital Media Award in 2021; a finalist for the Livingston Award for Young Journalists in 2018; and she was part of a VICE News Tonight on HBO team that received an Emmy nomination in 2018. She received the Philip Greer Memorial Award from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in 2014.
