Zimbabwe rejects $350m US health deal, citing sovereignty concerns 

HARARE — Zimbabwe has walked away from a proposed $350 million health funding agreement with the United States, after President Emmerson Mnangagwa personally directed his government to discontinue negotiations over what Harare describes as a one-sided deal that undermines the country’s sovereignty.

Albert Chimbindi, the secretary for foreign affairs and international trade, communicated the directive to the secretaries of finance and health in a letter dated December 23, 2025, according to a previously unreported document seen by ZimLive.

“The President has directed that Zimbabwe must discontinue any negotiation with the USA on the clearly lopsided MoU that blatantly compromises and undermines the sovereignty and independence of Zimbabwe as a country,” the letter reads.

The memorandum of understanding (MoU) was being promoted by Washington as the future framework for US health support to Zimbabwe under its America First Global Health Strategy (AFGHS). But Harare found its conditions unacceptable on multiple fronts.

The US sought direct access to Zimbabwe’s health data over an agreed period, a provision Zimbabwean officials viewed as intelligence overreach. The US separately pushed for access to the country’s critical mineral resources as part of the broader arrangement.

Zimbabwe also objected on principle. Harare argued that signing a bilateral health agreement with Washington would be inconsistent with its commitment to multilateralism, particularly given that the United States had withdrawn from the World Health Organisation under the Donald Trump administration.

Entering into a parallel bilateral health architecture, the government reasoned, would effectively legitimise Washington’s exit from the global health order.

Despite Zimbabwe’s resistance, Washington’s health diplomacy offensive is gaining traction elsewhere on the continent. At least 14 African countries have already signed similar agreements under the AFGHS framework.

The rejection of the MoU comes as Zimbabwe also faces the loss of US humanitarian funding. A year after Trump began dismantling USAID, which had funded programmes in Zimbabwe including the provision of HIV medicines, his administration is now initiating a new round of significant cuts to foreign assistance.

An internal State Department email, reported by The Atlantic, said the US will soon end all humanitarian funding currently provided to seven African nations, including Zimbabwe, as part of a “responsible exit,” with funding in nine others to be redirected. Aid programmes in all of these countries, previously up for renewal through the end of September, will instead be allowed to expire, each of them classified as lifesaving by the Trump administration’s own standards.

A February 12 email to officials in the State Department’s Bureau of African Affairs said the projects in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Malawi, Mali, Niger, Somalia and Zimbabwe are being cancelled because “there is no strong nexus between the humanitarian response and US national interests.”

The US Embassy in Harare had not responded to a request for comment at the time of publication.