US-Africa bilateral health deals won't help against diseases that ignore borders

"The United States is rolling out bilateral health agreements across Africa under its America First Global Health Strategy. Its announcement on 4 December of a US$1.6-billion health agreement with Kenya was the first, and signals a shift in how the United States intends to engage with African health systems. Rather than strengthening relevant continental bodies such as the World Health Organization (WHO), the African Union and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the strategy leans towards one-to-one agreements between governments."

"Developed by the Africa CDC and the WHO, and endorsed by heads of state in August, it outlines how countries should respond to cholera as a single coordinated unit. The plan establishes one team, one plan, one budget and one monitoring framework. It describes how responders can deploy from one country to another rapidly; how national laboratories with sequencing capacity can support testing for neighbours with fewer resources; and how information should flow seamlessly across borders so"

The United States is shifting toward bilateral health agreements across Africa under an America First Global Health Strategy, exemplified by a US$1.6-billion deal with Kenya. The shift accompanies withdrawal of US funding from WHO and Gavi, reducing support for multilateral vaccine procurement, coordination and technical assistance. During the COVID-19 pandemic, African countries experienced delayed access to vaccines, supplies and diagnostics and uneven surveillance capacity. African leaders, led by Africa CDC, endorsed a New Public Health Order in 2022 to build continent-wide systems. The Continental Cholera Emergency Preparedness and Response Plan establishes unified teams, budgets, laboratory support and cross-border information sharing for coordinated outbreak response.

Read at Nature