A draft document seen by Reuters showed that the administration of US President Donald Trump wants countries that receive US health aid to provide Washington with data on pathogens that can cause epidemics, as a condition for funding.
According to the document issued by the US State Department, the United States wants countries to share pathogen samples and genetic sequence data within 5 days of the outbreak, but it does not guarantee that any drugs or vaccines developed will be sent to affected countries in exchange.
Some experts said this imbalance may lead to a repeat of the inequalities that occurred during the Covid-19 pandemic and other disease outbreaks, when poor countries struggled to access industrial means to combat the disease even though they were often the first to spot the threat.
This could also undermine the ongoing negotiations at the World Health Organization, as countries try to reach a solution to this particular issue in a way that ensures that low-income countries are not neglected again, within the framework of an almost complete treaty to confront the pandemic.
The American document is a memorandum of understanding that will be signed by the United States and the countries receiving aid. It includes goals for dealing with conditions such as HIV/AIDS, as well as maternal mortality and measles vaccination.
The document covers aid until 2030, but the pathogen sharing agreement will last for 25 years.
In response to questions about the document, a senior US State Department official said that the United States is committed to transparency and accountability in its global health strategy, without providing further details.
The document is under discussion
A source close to the negotiations in one of the aid-receiving countries confirmed that the document is under discussion. In a post on the X website yesterday, Thursday, the Ghana Ministry of Health said that it had received a document on global health conditions from the United States, but did not provide details.
Three global health officials said they had also seen the document and that they were aware that governments were discussing it with the United States.
“These bilateral agreements… will go beyond the WHO and the foundations of solidarity and equity that we have been trying to build here,” Michael Kazachkin, former head of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, said at a WHO meeting in Geneva on Friday to discuss the pathogen-sharing portion of the pandemic treaty.
Kazatchkin represents the independent panel on pandemic preparedness and response set up by the World Health Organization to scrutinize the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier told Reuters that the organization had no information about the document.
He said the Access to Pathogens and Benefit-sharing Agreement negotiated by WHO member states would allow for the exchange of materials “and, on an equal footing, the rapid, timely, fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising from the sharing or use of these materials.”