Washington is pulling the plug on health aid to Zimbabwe after Harare walked away from a Trump "America First" funding deal. The State Department says US-funded partners will get a brief period to wind down programs, ending support that had covered more than 40% of Zimbabwe's HIV spending, reports the Washington Post. Zimbabwe's president, Emmerson Mnangagwa, halted talks last year, calling the terms skewed and raising sovereignty and data-sharing concerns.
Per the AP, Pamela Tremont, the US ambassador to Zimbabwe, said last week that the US-Zimbabwe relationship will shift "from one largely focused on health and humanitarian assistance, to one built on broader economic, trade, and investment opportunities." The administration has inked similar health agreements with nearly three dozen countries, but critics say the opaque deals slash global health spending by tens of billions of dollars, despite steady congressional funding, per the Post.
Roughly 1.3 million Zimbabweans are living with HIV, and activists warn of severe fallout: One even called the move a looming "public health disaster ... that will send Zimbabweans back to the days of mountains of coffins." Harare says it will boost domestic spending and seek more money from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, but local health leaders say there's no clear backup plan. The South China Morning Post has more on what the US cutting funds to Zimbabwe might mean for China's role in helping the African nation.
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