Zimbabwe has turned down a $367-million health funding package from Washington, with the administration of President Emmerson Mnangagwa expressing concerns over its impact on sovereignty and national control.
That package, which could have been the single largest health investment by any international partner in Zimbabwe in recent years, is now off the table.
US Ambassador to Zimbabwe Pamela Tremont also confirmed that negotiations had collapsed, saying Zimbabwean authorities have assured the US that they are prepared to continue the fight against diseases such as HIV, TB and malaria independently.
Local media in Zimbabwe report that the rejection of the controversial US initiative was ordered by President Mnangagwa.
One of the contentious points in the deal is about giving the US access to Zimbabwe’s national health data, including pathogen samples and epidemiological information from Zimbabweans, in exchange for the $367-million funding package.
Zimbabwe’s Herald newspaper quoted Secretary for Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Nick Mangwana as saying partnership “must be built on a foundation of mutual respect, transparency, and reciprocal benefit” and that the proposed deal with the US did not meet this “fundamental criteria”.
Transactional diplomacy
Zimbabwean officials also rejected other conditions attached to the agreement. These include giving the US greater access to Zimbabwe’s critical mineral resources.
The southern African country expressed concern that such provisions could give Washington strategic control over sectors vital to Zimbabwe’s long-term economic independence.
While Zimbabwe turns away American funding, many African countries have accepted it, including Nigeria, the continent’s most populous country, and Kenya, which has now suspended its own version of the deal due to a court case against it after concern was raised over granting the US access to sensitive health data.
In total, Washington says sixteen African nations have signed such health deals under Trump’s America First Global Health Strategy, involving about $18.3-billion funding to fight infectious diseases on the continent.
The initiative replaces health programmes previously implemented under USAID, with more focus now on American interest, as part of the Trump administration’s transactional foreign policy.