Zambia finalizes $1.5 billion US health pact after dropping data-sharing demands

Zambia’s health ministry announced that a new five-year health partnership with the United States will be signed on Oct 8, following revisions that eliminated mandatory biological-specimen transfers and the sharing of individual patient records. The United States will contribute $1.5 billion, with Lusaka pledging about $2.1 billion in co-financing, and the agreement will support HIV, tuberculosis, malaria, maternal and child health, disease surveillance and broader system strengthening.

Negotiators also secured protections for intellectual-property rights, benefit-sharing from research outcomes, and expanded capacity-building between Zambian and U.S. scientists. Earlier drafts linked the health pact to discussions on critical minerals, but those clauses have been stripped out after Foreign Affairs Minister Mulambo Haimbe confirmed the tracks are now separate. Opposition leader Antonio Mwanza and NGOs have urged the government to release the final memorandum for one outlet's review, though Health Minister Roma Chilengi said publication is not customary. The United States remains Zambia’s largest health partner, and attention now shifts to meeting the country’s $2.1 billion domestic financing schedule as U.S. aid tapers.