US to Wind Down $367m Health Support After Zim Pulls Out of Deal

The United States says it will begin winding down its health assistance to Zimbabwe after the government withdrew from negotiations on a proposed $367 million bilateral health agreement. In a statement released by the Embassy of the United States of America in Zimbabwe, Washington expressed regret over Harare’s decision to step back from talks on a five-year Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) aimed at supporting key health programmes. The proposed agreement would have provided $367 million over five years to bolster Zimbabwe’s priority health sectors including HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention, tuberculosis, malaria, maternal and child health and disease outbreak preparedness.

“We believe this collaboration would have delivered extraordinary benefits for Zimbabwean communities especially the 1.2 million men, women and children currently receiving HIV treatment through U.S.-supported programs,” said U.S. Ambassador to Zimbabwe Pamela Tremont. “We will now turn to the difficult and regrettable task of winding down our health assistance in Zimbabwe.” According to the statement, the proposed MOU represented the largest potential health investment in Zimbabwe by any international partner.

The funding model was designed around shared responsibility, requiring Zimbabwe to gradually increase its own domestic health financing alongside continued U.S. Since 2006, the United States says it has invested more than $1.9 billion in Zimbabwe’s health sector support it credits with helping the country reach the UNAIDS 95-95-95 HIV treatment targets. The embassy noted that 16 African countries have already signed similar health collaboration MOUs with the United States representing more than $18.3 billion in new health funding.