Zambia signs US health deal after disputes over data-sharing

Zambian Health Minister Roma Chilengi (second right) said the agreement would not allow the sharing of individual patient records Zambia has signed a five-year health financing agreement with the US, ending months of public dispute over whether the country was trading citizens' medical data and mineral rights for aid.

Civil society groups had criticised a leaked draft, which they said allowed too much data sharing, while activists seized on reports that health funding was being linked to preferential access for US companies to minerals, a claim the then-US ambassador denied.

Health Minister Roma Chilengi said earlier this week that clauses requiring Zambia to send biological specimens to the US had been removed, and that the agreement would not allow the sharing of individual patient records.