The United States recently signed two five-year deals with Kenya and Rwanda—worth $2.5 billion and $228 million, respectively—to bolster the two East African nations’ health care systems in the first two agreements signed within U.S. President Donald Trump’s new overhaul of foreign aid.
Part of the Trump administration’s “America First Global Health Strategy,” which it launched in September, the two deals are intended to combat infectious disease in Rwanda and Kenya while the U.S. government slowly transitions away from direct funding to promote “self-reliance” in both countries.
Both deals, signed between Dec. 4 and Dec. 5, are aimed at encouraging both nations to take “on greater financial responsibility as U.S. support is gradually reduced over the years,” according to the State Department….