Ghana has rejected a proposed bilateral health agreement with the United States after negotiations collapsed over demands for access to sensitive national health data.
This is according to a report by international news agency Reuters.
The agreement was part of the United States’ “America First Global Health Strategy,” introduced under the Trump administration to restructure foreign aid and encourage partner countries to take greater financial responsibility for health programmes such as HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, and polio.
Negotiations for the deal began in November 2025 and would have seen Ghana receive approximately $109 million in US health assistance over five years.
However, talks broke down after Ghanaian officials objected to provisions that required the sharing of sensitive health data, which they deemed unacceptable.
“They were pretty normal dealings and negotiations in the beginning, and then increasingly there was a lot more pressure, especially at the end,” a source familiar with the matter told Reuters.
The source added that Washington had set an April 24 deadline for concluding the agreement.
The collapse of the talks represents a setback for the US strategy to reshape its global health partnerships. Similar disputes have occurred elsewhere, with negotiations derailed in Zimbabwe earlier this year, while a deal with Kenya was temporarily suspended by a court following a legal challenge from a consumer protection group.
Ghana has not issued any official statement on the matter. Officials at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other government spokespersons did not respond to requests for comment.
The US State Department said it does not comment on details of ongoing bilateral negotiations but reaffirmed America’s commitment to partnership with Ghana.
“We continue to look for ways to strengthen the bilateral partnership between our two countries,” a State Department spokesperson said.
According to official US foreign aid data, America disbursed about $219 million in assistance to Ghana in 2024, including $96 million for health programmes.
The proposed five-year agreement would have provided $109 million specifically for health initiatives, although the exact financial obligations expected from Ghana remain unclear.
The US Agency for International Development (USAID) was dismantled earlier this year as part of the current administration’s restructuring of foreign aid delivery.
As of Monday, the State Department indicated that 32 agreements had been signed under the new global health strategy, totalling $20.6 billion in funding — $12.8 billion from the United States and $7.8 billion in co-investments from partner countries. More agreements are expected in the coming days.