On Thursday, December 4, Kenya became the first state in Africa – and more broadly, in the Global South – to sign a bilateral health agreement with Donald Trump’s United States. The bill, initialed in Washington by US foreign minister Marco Rubio and Kenyan President William Ruto, was also the first of its kind since the dissolution of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in February.
The agreement provided for the US to allocate more than $1.6 billion (€1.37 billion) to the Kenyan health system over five years to fight AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, and polio. Kenya would contribute an additional $850 million and committed, in the long run, to shouldering greater financial responsibility, according to the US State Department.
Kenya is among the few African countries favorably viewed in Washington. Nairobi, in particular, earned the US’ respect by leading the multinational security support mission in Haiti, a Caribbean country devastated by gang violence.
Even though the outcome of this deployment, launched in July 2024, was mixed – with fewer than 1,000 officers deployed in Haiti out of an initial 2,500 – Rubio praised the commitment and expressed hope that Kenya would continue this mission, now under a United Nations mandate.
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Fonte: Le Monde
