DAKAR, March 2 (Reuters) – 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.
(Reporting by Anait Miridzhanian; Editing by Toby Chopra)
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