Why Ghana rejected United States $109 million health aid deal – Details

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US President Donald Trump and Ghana's Presiednt John Mahama

The government of Ghana has rejected a bilateral health deal with the United States, over “unhealthy concerns” about the terms.

Reports suggest Ghana declined the deal primarily because of the conditions attached to it.

The information gathered suggests the proposed agreement required Ghana to share health records with the United States for a period of 25 years, while the aid program was for five years.

Also, an  MoU also reportedly included provisions that would allow drugs approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to enter the Ghanaian market without undergoing the country’s standard approval process by Ghana’s FDA.

JoyNews in a post stated, “US health aid: JoyNews sources confirm in November 2025, the US chargé d’affaires presented Ghana’s Ministry of Health with an MoU unilaterally by the US requesting, it be signed within one week”.

Another post stated, “US health aid deal: US required Ghana to share health records for 25 years while aid was for only 5 years – JoyNews sources say”.

Reuters, which shared more details, stated, “ Ghana has rejected a bilateral health deal with the U.S., a source ‌familiar with the negotiations told Reuters, the latest stumbling block to the Trump administration’s effort to overhaul foreign aid.

The government of President John Dramani Mahama baulked at terms requiring the sharing of sensitive health data, the source said.

The ​same issue sank talks with Zimbabwe this year and also prompted a court to suspend implementation of ​Kenya’s deal pending the hearing of a case filed by a consumer protection ⁠group.

Spokespeople for Ghana’s foreign ministry and government did not respond to requests for comment.

The U.S. State ​Department said that it does not disclose details of bilateral negotiations.

“We continue to look for ways to ​strengthen the bilateral partnership between our two countries,” a spokesperson said.

The Trump administration in September announced a new “America First Global Health Strategy” that calls for poorer nations to play a bigger role in fighting HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis and ​polio in their countries and eventually transition from aid to self-reliance.

The U.S. Agency for International Development ​was dismantled earlier this year.

INTENSE U.S. ‘PRESSURE’ TO SIGN DEAL, SOURCE SAYS

The U.S. has disbursed $219 million in foreign assistance to ‌Ghana, ⁠including $96 million specifically for health, for 2024, the year before the Trump administration’s cuts to foreign aid, according to government foreign assistance data.

The deal that the two sides started negotiating last November would have called for $109 million in U.S. assistance for health over five years, the source said. It was ​unclear how much Ghana ​would have been expected ⁠to pay.

“They were pretty normal dealings and negotiations in the beginning, and then increasingly there was a lot more pressure, especially at the end,” the ​source said.

Washington then set April 24 as the deadline to conclude the ​negotiations, and ⁠Accra decided it could not agree to what was being proposed, the source said.

Ghana has communicated its position to the Trump administration, the source said.

As of Monday, the State Department had signed 32 deals under ⁠the “America ​First Global Health Strategy” representing $20.6 billion in funding, made up ​of $12.8 billion from the U.S. and $7.8 billion in “co-investment from recipient countries”, the State Department spokesperson said.

Washington expects additional memorandums of understanding ​to be signed in the near future, the spokesperson said”.

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