Guinea and the United States have signed a five-year health cooperation agreement totalling nearly $143 million in funding from both countries, finance minister Mariama Cire Sylla said.
* The U.S. has been pursuing bilateral deals with Africancountries after dismantling its aid agency last year, cuttingfunding and contracts worldwide. * The memorandum of understanding will mobilize $142.6million over the period 2026–2030, including $91.27 million thatwill be provided by the U.S. and $51.33 million by Guinea, theminister said in a Facebook post on Sunday. * "This partnership will strengthen the fight againstmalaria, accelerate the elimination of polio, modernize ourlaboratories, consolidate human resources in health, and improvethe quality of our health data systems," she said. * Global health advocates have criticised parts of thedeals, including lines in some which ask countries to promptlyshare data with Washington about pathogens that could sparkepidemics in their countries, as a condition of getting thefunding - but without guarantees that countries will have anyaccess to medical tools developed as a result. * The average yearly U.S. funding in the health deal isroughly a third of the aid that flowed to Guinea through USAIDin 2024, according to U.S. government data.
This article was produced by Reuters news agency. It has not been edited by Global South World.
