US seeks pathogen data in exchange for foreign health aid, document shows

By Jennifer Rigby and Emma Farge

LONDON/GENEVA (Reuters) -The Trump administration wants countries that receive U.S. health aid to share data with Washington about pathogens that could spark epidemics as a condition of the funding, according to a draft document seen by Reuters.

The U.S. wants countries to share pathogen samples and genomic sequencing data within five days of an outbreak, according to the document from the U.S. State Department, but it does not guarantee that any drugs or vaccines developed as a result of that exchange would go to the countries affected.

That imbalance could lead to a repeat of the inequalities experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic and other outbreaks, where poorer nations struggle to access the tools developed to fight disease despite often first identifying the threat, some experts said.

It could also undermine ongoing negotiations at the World Health Organization, where countries are trying to thrash out this very issue in a way that means lower-income countries are not left behind again, as part of the near-complete pandemic treaty.

The U.S. document is a memorandum of understanding that both the U.S. and recipient countries would sign. It includes targets for tackling conditions such as HIV, as well as on maternal mortality and measles vaccination.

The document covers aid up to 2030, but the pathogen sharing agreement would last for 25 years. 

The document follows the revolution in U.S. aid that has taken place under President Donald Trump's "America First" policy. The country’s new global health strategy, released in September, aims to move recipient countries towards “self-reliance”, and to sign bilateral deals as soon as possible.

BYPASSING WHO-BACKED DEAL

In response to questions about the document, a senior State Department official said the U.S. was committed to transparency and accountability in its global health strategy, without elaborating further. 

A source close to negotiations in one aid-recipient country confirmed the document was under discussion. Ghana's Ministry of Health said on X on Thursday it had received a document on global health terms from the U.S. but did not provide details.

Three global health officials said they had also seen the document and were aware that governments are discussing it with the United States.  

"These bilateral agreements ... will bypass the WHO and the foundations of solidarity and equity we have been trying to build here," said Michael Kazatchkine, former head of the Global Fund to Fight Aids, TB and Malaria, at a WHO meeting in Geneva on Friday to discuss the pathogen-sharing piece of the pandemic treaty.

Kazatchkine represents the Independent Panel on Pandemic Preparedness and Response convened by the WHO to scrutinize the global response to COVID.

WHO spokesperson Christian Lindmeier told Reuters the agency had no information about the document.

He said the pathogen access and benefits-sharing agreement member states are negotiating at WHO would both enable sharing materials "and, on an equal footing, the rapid, timely, fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the sharing or utilization of such materials".

(Reporting by Jennifer Rigby and Emma Farge in Geneva, additional reporting by Olivia Le Poidevin; Editing by Michele Gershberg and Andrew Heavens)