Human Rights Watch Report Warns Trump Health Agreements with African Nations May Jeopardize Rights
Human Rights Watch released a report alleging that new US bilateral health agreements with seven African countries include provisions requiring surveillance access and compliance monitoring that could jeopardize human rights protections. The agreements were negotiated after the Trump administration dissolved USAID in 2025, eliminating approximately 90 percent of US foreign aid. The report raises concerns that governments facing aid cuts are being pressured to accept terms that could undermine patient privacy and reproductive rights.
According to a newly released Human Rights Watch report, the United States is conditioning global health assistance on bilateral agreements with Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Liberia, and Uganda that include broad surveillance powers and data access provisions. The agreements, negotiated after the dissolution of USAID eliminated roughly $60 billion in funding, reportedly require countries to grant US surveillance access to health systems and permit unannounced facility inspections to ensure compliance with the Helms Amendment, which restricts US aid from supporting abortion services. HRW senior researcher Julia Bleckner stated that governments are being pressured to accept "troubling conditions" that jeopardize human rights protections. The report notes that the US government has not publicly disclosed details of 31 total agreements signed, with information coming from documents briefly posted to the State Department's FOIA library or leaked. The aid cuts have coincided with disruptions to global health infrastructure, including reduced capacity to respond to the ongoing Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
What's missing
The article does not include a direct response from the US State Department or Trump administration addressing the specific allegations in the Human Rights Watch report, though it notes a request for comment was made. Additionally, the article does not provide the full text or specific language of the agreements themselves, limiting independent verification of the exact terms being disputed.
What different sources said
- The IndependentLeft
‘Troubling’ Trump health deals with Africa jeopardise human rights, report says
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