Health and development experts are concerned that African governments are losing their collective bargaining power under the United States’ new “America First” global health strategy as they sit alone across the negotiating table from the world’s most powerful nation.
The U.S. State Department has sent roving teams to visit African countries to negotiate overarching bilateral health agreements, as opposed to leaning more heavily on funneling money through nongovernmental organizations to implement global health programing.
A template of the agreements obtained by Devex outlines points under negotiation such as how funding responsibilities will shift from the U.S. to partner governments annually and ensures those governments commit to “co-investment” from their own budgets as opposed to using funds from other donors or multilateral organizations. But more controversially, it also includes decades-long requirements for African countries to share sensitive data with the U.S.
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.
