Congo and US agree to $1.2 billion health partnership

KINSHASA, Congo– The United States and Congo signed a $1.2 billion health partnership on Thursday, the governments of the two countries announced in a joint statement.

The State Department said it would provide up to $900 million over the next five years to help the central African country fight HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, maternal and child mortality and other infectious diseases. The Congolese government will commit to increasing its own national health spending by $300 million over the same period, according to the press release.

It is the latest agreement the United States has reached with more than a dozen African countries, many of which are affected by U.S. aid cuts, including Congo.

Cuts in U.S. aid have crippled health systems across the developing world, including Africa, where many countries depended on funding for crucial programs, including those designed to respond to disease outbreaks.

The State Department signed 19 bilateral global health partnerships with African countries on Thursday.

The Trump administration says new “America First” global health financing deals aim to increase self-sufficiency and eliminate what it calls ideological priorities and wasteful international aid. These agreements replace a patchwork of previous health agreements under the aegis of the now dismantled US Agency for International Development.

Analysts say the new approach to global health aligns with U.S. President Donald Trump’s tendency to deal with other countries in a transactional manner, using direct talks with foreign governments to promote his agenda abroad.

The announcement of the U.S.-Congo partnership comes on the same day the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention expressed concerns about provisions in some agreements that require countries to share data with Washington on viruses that could spark outbreaks within their borders as a condition of receiving funding.

“There are huge concerns about the data, about the sharing of pathogens,” Africa CDC Director General Dr. Jean Kaseya told reporters.

Negotiations on a health funding deal between the United States and Zimbabwe collapsed on Wednesday after the African country rejected a requirement to share sensitive health data.

It is unclear whether such a requirement is also part of the U.S.-Congo health partnership.

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Banchereau reported from Dakar, Senegal. Associated Press journalist Justin Kabumba in Goma, Congo, contributed to this report.