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.”