Source:- Medium
The Trump administration has started its first big "America First" global health project by signing a five-year agreement with Kenya. This is a big change in how the US pays for health care abroad. Kenyan President William Ruto and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio signed the deal, which is worth $2.5 billion, on December 4 in Nairobi. American officials say this is the first of many new bilateral health funding frameworks that will put geopolitical alignment with Washington at the center of U.S. foreign aid decisions.
The agreement replaces a set of U.S. health programs that the U.S. Agency for
International Development had been running for decades. Earlier this year, the
Trump administration shut down USAID completely. Some of its tasks were moved
to the State Department, while others were cut. The global health community was
shocked by that decision. Hundreds of programs that helped with maternal care,
nutrition, HIV and AIDS prevention, agricultural stability, and child health
suddenly lost funding. International partners said that the cuts could undo
years of progress in low-income countries and lead to more illness, hunger, and
instability.
Even though there was a lot of debate about it, Secretary Rubio said that the
new agreement with Kenya was a chance for the US to take the lead in global
health again. He said the policy's goal is to get rid of what he called
dependency, inefficiency, and ideological agendas from foreign aid. He also
praised Kenya for being a key part of the international stabilization mission
in Haiti, where Kenyan officers have been sent to help fight violent gangs that
have taken over local security forces. Rubio says that Kenya's willingness to
act on the world stage is the kind of partnership the US wants to reward with
its new strategy.
President Ruto was happy with the deal and said that Kenya would keep helping
to restore order in Haiti. He called the deal a sign of Kenya's long-standing
cooperation with Washington and a chance to improve health systems in ways that
will help the whole population.
The deal says that the United States will give one point seven billion dollars
and the Kenyan government will give eight hundred fifty million dollars. The
money will mostly go toward fighting infectious diseases like HIV and AIDS,
malaria, and tuberculosis. American officials said that any hospital or clinic
that is part of Kenya's national health insurance program could get help.
However, faith-based medical providers would get special attention. Ouma Oluga,
Kenya's principal secretary for medical services, said that the framework is a
big change from how things used to be and that it would lead to long-term
health improvements across the country.
Family planning services will also get money as long as they follow U.S. rules
about abortion-related care. Two State Department officials who helped work out
the deal, Jeremy Lewin and Brad Smith, said that even though the policy is
conservative, it won't discriminate against gay or transgender people or sex
workers. They also stressed that the agreement was made so that it could be
used by a wide range of people in Kenya's health system.
Before the end of the year, a number of other African countries are likely to
sign agreements like this one. Officials said, however, that Nigeria and South
Africa, two of the largest and most powerful countries on the continent, are
unlikely to take part because they disagree with the Trump administration on
political issues. If they said no, it would be a big change in how the U.S. is
involved in health care in Africa.
The end of USAID is still worrying to health experts, African governments, and
humanitarian groups around the world. A lot of people say that USAID-funded
programs gave vaccines, treated malnutrition, made rural clinics stronger, and
trained thousands of health professionals. These efforts stopped suddenly,
leaving a gap in health capacity that many countries are still trying to fill.
The loss of funding also led to a lot of job losses because American aid paid
the salaries of many frontline workers.
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