“Serious” American conditions for monitoring patient data in exchange for health aid | news

Human Rights Watch said that the US government is linking vital health aid to low- and middle-income countries with “dangerous” conditions, including expanding powers to monitor patient data, and broad rights to obtain biological samples and associated data, in the interest of developing medicines and vaccines.

In a new assessment of seven bilateral health agreements signed in late 2025 with Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Liberia and Uganda, the organization warned that these agreements “put human rights at risk” by linking continued health financing to compliance with conditions that affect patient privacy and undermine fairness in the distribution of medical products.

She added that the agreements show that Washington “intends to restrict vital health assistance to millions of people by accepting troubling conditions,” especially after the sudden withdrawal of aid in 2025 and the closure of the United States Agency for International Development, which disrupted drug supply chains, closed health programs worth hundreds of millions of dollars, and created a health crisis that threatens decades of progress in the fight against HIV (AIDS).

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Human Rights Watch noted that the agreements require countries to allow broad oversight of their health systems, including surprise inspection visits to facilities to verify compliance with the Helms Amendments that prohibit the use of US aid in providing abortion services, with the threat of completely halting funding within 180 days if compliance is not achieved.

Some agreements, particularly with Rwanda, Ethiopia, Uganda, Nigeria, and Mozambique, also provide for arrangements to share biological samples and data on pathogens with pandemic potential with the US side as a condition for continued funding, without ensuring that these countries receive a fair share of vaccines, treatments, or diagnostics developed using their biological resources.

The organization warned that these conditions undermine the ongoing negotiations at the World Health Organization to establish a global system for sharing epidemic benefits and resources based on a more equitable distribution of health products.

She added that the agreements raise serious concerns about the use of private patient data in countries that lack strong data protection laws, as they do not include any prohibition on sharing this information with American pharmaceutical companies without patients’ consent.

Human Rights Watch called on the governments concerned to reject any conditions that violate the rights of their people, and to involve civil society organizations and multilateral health bodies in drafting these agreements to ensure greater transparency and better protection of rights.