US, ZAMBIA SIGN $2.49 BILLION HEALTH MOU, DATA SHARING AGREEMENT By Mike Mwendachabe The United States Of America and Zambia have signed a five-year, 2.49 billion United States dollar Health Cooperation Memorandum of Understanding and a Data Sharing Agreement aimed at strengthening Zambia’s health system and improving health data management The 2026-2030 Health MOU will […]

US, ZAMBIA SIGN $2.49 BILLION HEALTH MOU, DATA SHARING AGREEMENT

By Mike Mwendachabe

The United States Of America and Zambia have signed a five-year, 2.49 billion United States dollar Health Cooperation Memorandum of Understanding and a Data Sharing Agreement aimed at strengthening Zambia’s health system and improving health data management

The 2026-2030 Health MOU will see the United States, working with Congress, provide more than 1.5 billion dollars towards Zambia’s priority health programmes, while Zambia will increase its domestic health expenditure by 975 million dollars over the five-year period.

Health Minister, Professor Roma Chilengi says the MOU will facilitate the recruitment of 40,000 health workers, comprising 15,000 frontline health workers and 25,000 community health workers.

US Chargé d’Affaires Mich Coker says the agreement marks a shift from the traditional donor-recipient model towards a partnership based on Zambian leadership, ownership and shared accountability.

Mr Coker says the framework will support Zambia in managing its own procurement of essential medicines, integrating frontline health workers into the civil service and expanding digital and data systems for rapid detection and response to health threats.

Minister of Finance and National Planning Dr Situmbeko Musokotwane says it is pleasing that issues which had prevented the government from signing the agreement earlier have now been resolved.

Dr Musokotwane says the United States has supported Zambia’s health sector for a long time and that the MOU provides an opportunity to continue the cooperation under a new framework.

Meanwhile, Foreign Affairs Minister, Mr Mulambo Haimbe, SC, says there is no connection between the Health MOU and the sharing of Zambia’s critical minerals.

Mr Haimbe says the two matters were deliberately decoupled so that discussions on critical minerals can be handled separately from the health agreement.

On the Data Sharing Agreement, the United States says no personally identifiable information will be shared, with data exchanges limited to aggregated and de-identified programme information.

It says Zambia retains ownership and control of its data, with all data-sharing processes continuing to be governed by Zambian laws, policies and approval mechanisms.

The funding will support programmes covering HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, maternal and child health, disease surveillance and infectious disease outbreak preparedness and response.- Diamond TV