Zambia plans to sign a revised health agreement with the United States on Thursday, 8 October, after negotiations over patient data and medical specimens. Health Minister Roma Chilengi announced the plan on Tuesday, according to Reuters and the Associated Press.
The proposed agreement covers five years. Chilengi told Reuters that the US would provide $1.5 billion in health funding and Zambia would contribute $2.1 billion, bringing the combined amount to $3.6 billion. The figures describe planned contributions under an agreement that is still awaiting signature.
What changed in the agreement
Negotiations had stalled over Zambia’s concerns about requests to share medical information. Chilengi said clauses requiring Zambia to provide individual patient data and medical specimens to the US had been removed from the revised text. He said the remaining information-sharing would be limited to what is needed to monitor and evaluate US-funded health programmes.
The distinction matters. The minister said Zambia will still report on how funded programmes perform, but will not be obliged under the revised agreement to hand over individual records or specimens. The final signed text has not yet been published in the reports available on Tuesday.
The minerals question
Zambia had also objected earlier this year to any link between health funding and US access to its critical minerals. In May, Foreign Minister Mulambo Haimbe said the proposed health and minerals agreements should be assessed separately. Chilengi told Reuters on Tuesday that the revised health pact makes no mention of critical minerals. That is his account of the agreement; the public will be able to examine its precise terms once the final document is released.
US support has been important to Zambia’s HIV, malaria and other public health programmes, Reuters reports. The funding announcement therefore matters for health services, while the removal of the disputed clauses addresses a concern about control over Zambians’ medical information. Zambia’s state broadcaster ZNBC also reported that the two governments had finalised negotiations ahead of the planned signing.
