The U.S. government has begun its first round of negotiations for bilateral health agreements with 16 African nations, with others to follow, the director-general of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Jean Kaseya, said during a press briefing on Thursday.
This is part of the U.S. State Department’s new strategy around global health — engaging directly with countries through these bilateral agreements as opposed to the traditional method of funneling funds through implementing partners.
A State Department template of these agreements breaks down how funding responsibilities will shift from the U.S. to partner governments annually and ensures those governments commit to cofinance from their own budgets as opposed to using funds from other donors or multilateral organizations. The template also controversially includes pathogen-sharing agreements — which are separately being negotiated as part of a global pandemic agreement.
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.
