US to demand pathogen data in exchange for foreign health aid – Guardian
The US will demand countries agree to hand over samples of “pathogens with epidemic potential” in return for temporarily restored health aid, The Guardian wrote on Saturday, citing draft government documents.
US President Donald Trump slashed such programs earlier this year as part of a broad government cost-cutting effort and foreign policy realignment.
Under proposed memorandums of understanding, Washington is offering dozens of countries a renewal of US programs confronting diseases such as HIV, TB, and malaria, as well as “surveillance and laboratory systems and electronic health records,” the British daily wrote.
However, partner countries will be expected to take over funding of the programs within five years, it added.
In return, they will be required to share specimens and genetic sequences of “pathogens with epidemic potential” with the US within days of their discovery, it wrote.
The draft also reportedly includes no guarantees that the partner states will get access to medicines developed as a result.
“The template offers no guarantees of access to countermeasures and gives commercial dominance to one country,” The Guardian cited Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response member Michel Kazatchkine as saying. “It threatens health security, data security and, ultimately, national sovereignty.”
Earlier this year, Trump cut funding to the US Agency for International Development (USAID), formerly Washington’s primary vehicle for funding foreign political projects, including foreign health programs. The agency has widely been considered a soft power tool.
Former USAID chief Samantha Power, who led the agency under Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden, admitted last month that it was instrumental in keeping pro-EU Moldovan President Maia Sandu in power via money allocated from its multi-billion dollar Ukraine aid budget.
