Kenya To Give US Access To Crucial Health Data For Funding

Kenya is set to sign a controversial agreement that will grant the United States access to sensitive health data for 25 years in exchange for limited funding spanning just five years.

The memorandum of understanding, currently being finalized between Nairobi and Washington, requires Kenya to share physical specimens of citizens and genetic sequence data of disease-causing organisms with pandemic potential.

The deal also stipulates that Kenya must notify the US within 24 hours of detecting any infectious disease and complete initial response actions within seven days.

Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale and National Treasury CS John Mbadi led high-level discussions with US government representatives two weeks ago at a meeting that also included principal secretaries from Treasury, Foreign Affairs and Medical Services.

The agreement follows a three-month halt of US foreign aid declared in January that severely disrupted HIV treatment programmes and health systems across Africa.

External health assistance to the continent has dropped by nearly 70 per cent since 2021, according to data from the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.

In exchange for the data, Washington has committed to funding an assessment of Kenya’s outbreak surveillance system and paying salaries for epidemiologists throughout the agreement period.

The US will also continue financing laboratory commodities and frontline health workers in 2026, with funding expected to decline gradually thereafter.

Kenya has committed to adding 500 medical officers and nurses to the government payroll annually from 2027 through 2030 as part of its obligations under the deal.

Treasury Principal Secretary Chris Kiptoo said the agreement aligns Kenya’s health priorities with US global health objectives.

He described it as strengthening a partnership that saves lives and builds a more resilient health system.

Medical Services Principal Secretary Ouma Oluga said the new framework represents a shift to government-to-government cooperation, with Kenya assuming direct responsibility for managing finances and programme implementation while the US remains the primary donor.

Critics have labelled the agreement extractive and lopsided. Aggrey Aluso, Director of the Africa Region for the Pandemic Action Network, questioned the fairness of exchanging 25 years of data access for only five years of support.

He said the arrangement undermines African sovereignty and contradicts multilateral systems designed to drive solidarity-based responses to health emergencies.

The deal requires Kenya to allow US Food and Drug Administration approval or Emergency Use Authorization of medical countermeasures to be sufficient basis for use during outbreaks, effectively adopting American standards for health responses.

Aluso warned that by becoming the gatekeeper of pathogen data through bilateral agreements, America risks fragmenting and delaying worldwide pandemic response efforts.

The agreement does not guarantee Kenya access to health products that might be developed from the pathogen material it shares, nor any co-authorship on research based on materials Kenya provides.

It also does not specify whether Americans will share their specimens with the Kenyan government.

Data Protection Commissioner Immaculate Kassait confirmed the Ministry of Health had engaged her office for guidance on the agreement.

She said any data exchange must comply with the Data Protection Act 2019 and that the ministry is required to conduct a comprehensive Data Protection Impact Assessment.

The memorandum includes provisions requiring Kenya to exempt US government funds from taxation, including money deployed through local contractors.

Washington also wants access to electronic medical records, health management information systems and outbreak response and surveillance data systems.

The US has replicated similar agreements in 16 other African countries including Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and Ethiopia.

The deals form part of the America First Global Health Strategy, which according to the US government aims to protect the homeland by preventing infectious disease outbreaks from reaching American shores.

Nearly all World Health Organization member states except the US and Argentina are currently negotiating the Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing system, a unified process designed to ensure swift international information sharing and equitable counter-measure development during pandemics.

Seme MP James Nyikal, who chairs the National Assembly Health Committee, said his team is not privy to the details of the Kenya-US agreement.

He noted that unless the partnership requires parliamentary ratification, it remains an executive task that does not need to come before legislators.

The Office of the Data Protection Commissioner emphasized that such agreements do not alter Kenya’s privacy laws and must operate within the framework established by the Data Protection Act and accompanying regulations.

The agreement is reportedly nearing completion following discussions between President William Ruto and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in September.

US government representatives at the November meeting included Brad Smith, a global health adviser in the State Department who oversees reorganization of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief and health grants, and Susan Burns, the Charge d’Affaires and acting ambassador.

Kenya previously announced plans to relocate critical health data currently hosted in the United States following USAID funding cuts. Systems including the Kenya Health Information System, Kenya Master Health Facility List and other digital platforms developed with US support have suffered maintenance gaps and technology shortages.

The Ministry of Health reported in February that USAID funding cuts would cause a 52 billion shilling gap in the country’s health budget.

USAID had committed 2.5 billion dollars to Kenya in its 2020 to 2025 strategic plan, with an estimated 80 per cent earmarked for healthcare initiatives.