Zambia is set to sign a health agreement with the United States on Thursday, following months of delays over conditions related to data protection and mineral resources, the Zambian health minister announced on Tuesday.
More than a dozen countries, including Rwanda, Uganda, Lesotho and Eswatini, have signed health assistance agreements with the United States since the Trump administration returned to power.
The agreement with Zambia, a copper-rich southern African nation, will provide $1.5 billion in U.S. funding over five years, Health Minister Roma Chilengi said at a press conference.
Negotiations had been stalled for months over objections raised by Zambia, which was then in the midst of President Hakainde Hichilema’s re-election campaign. Hichilema was sworn in for a second term on September 1.
The agreement is scheduled to be signed on Thursday at the Ministry of Finance.
"Disagreements arose over data protection, intellectual property, benefit-sharing and the sharing of collected samples. I am pleased to announce that all these concerns have been addressed and resolved,” Chilengi said.
Dispute Over Strategic Minerals
Another major sticking point concerned the alleged linking of the health agreement to a separate deal involving strategic mineral resources.
In May, Zambian Foreign Minister Mulambo Haimbe criticized the proposed arrangement, saying that the agreements and plans were being tied together.
He explained that the conclusion of an agreement on strategic raw materials had been made conditional on the signing of the health memorandum of understanding.
Chilengi rejected that characterization on Tuesday.
"Regarding strategic minerals, I want to be categorical: the Ministry of Health has never seen any memorandum of understanding referring to strategic minerals,” he said.
However, a draft of the agreement disclosed in March by the NGO Health Gap and reviewed by AFP contained a provision stating that the health agreement would be "immediately terminated” and all related funding "immediately suspended” if the parties failed to reach an agreement by April 1, 2026, on a proposed bilateral deal put forward by the U.S. Secretary of State.
The U.S. Embassy had also acknowledged the transactional nature of the arrangement in a statement issued in early December, linking it to cooperation in the mining sector.
U.S. Funding Raised to $1.5 Billion
Chilengi said the contents of the final health agreement would not be made public.
The previously disclosed draft provided for approximately $1 billion in U.S. funding, compared with the $1.5 billion now announced.
The new agreement therefore represents a substantial increase in Washington’s proposed financial commitment, although its final terms remain undisclosed.