Ghana has turned down a proposed bilateral health agreement with the United States following the collapse of negotiations over demands for access to sensitive health data.
This information comes from a news report by the international news outlet, Reuters.
The agreement, as noted in the report, was part of Washington’s wider “America First Global Health Strategy,” a policy framework introduced during the Trump administration that aimed to restructure foreign aid and encourage recipient nations to take on a greater share of funding and responsibility for disease control programs, including HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, and polio.
According to the source, the negotiations, which began in November 2025, were intended to provide approximately $109 million in U.S. health assistance to Ghana over a five-year period.
However, discussions came to a halt after Accra raised objections to clauses that required the sharing of sensitive national health data, which officials in Ghana deemed unacceptable.
“They were quite standard dealings and negotiations at first, but then there was increasing pressure, particularly towards the end,” the source remarked, noting that Washington had imposed an April 24 deadline for finalizing the agreement.
The failure of these talks represents a setback for the U.S. strategy to reshape its global health partnerships, which have also encountered similar disputes in other regions.
A similar issue disrupted negotiations with Zimbabwe earlier this year, while an agreement with Kenya was temporarily halted by a court pending a legal challenge from a consumer protection organization.
Ghana has not made any public statements regarding this issue. Representatives from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the government did not reply to requests for comments.
The U.S. State Department, on the other hand, stated that it does not reveal details of bilateral negotiations but reiterated Washington’s commitment to ongoing cooperation with Accra.
“We are actively seeking opportunities to enhance the bilateral relationship between our two nations,” stated a spokesperson.
In 2024, the United States has already allocated approximately $219 million in foreign aid to Ghana, which includes $96 million designated for health initiatives, as per official foreign aid statistics. According to the proposed agreement, Ghana was set to receive $109 million in health funding over a span of five years, although it is still uncertain what financial obligations would have been expected from Accra.
Earlier this year, the U.S. Agency for International Development was dissolved as part of the administration’s extensive reorganization of foreign aid distribution.
As of Monday, the State Department reported that 32 agreements have been executed under the new global health strategy, amounting to $20.6 billion in funding, which includes $12.8 billion from the United States and $7.8 billion in co-investment from the recipient nations. Washington anticipates that further agreements will be concluded in the upcoming months.
