A dangerous project for humanity

Humanitarian aid to fight epidemics in exchange for sensitive data and access to rare earth mines. The Trump administration is canceling programs in Africa that financed the purchase of drugs it previously identified as lifesaving, according to an internal State Department email obtained by the US magazine The Atlantic. The cuts will end Washington's humanitarian funding to seven very poor African countries—Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Malawi, Mali, Niger, Somalia, and Zimbabwe—in what officials call a "responsible exit." Nine other countries, including Ethiopia, Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of Congo—struggling with endless wars and the world's worst humanitarian crises—are getting funds redirected under a reworked agreement with the United Nations. The scientific journal The Lancet, in an independent study, estimated that 9.5 million deaths are foreseeable within the next four years due to the drastic and unprecedented decision to close the USAID development cooperation agency, which provided funds for drugs to treat the HIV/AIDS, TB, and malaria epidemics, malnutrition, and maternal and child mortality.

The US State Department has declared its intention to "responsibly transition programs to new mechanisms" in what is called the America First Global Health Strategy (AFGHS). The Make America Great Again initiative of cooperation, in short. The case of Zimbabwe is illuminating. President Mnangagwa recently declared that he had refused US aid amounting to $367 million. Although refusing to accept the offer jeopardizes the lives of numerous patients and prevention programs, Zimbabwe has declared that it is not Washington's teddy bear.

In exchange for these funds, Trump's diplomats have demanded five years of access to patient data and then an agreement to participate in the exploitation of lithium mines, a highly valuable mineral for the electric car industry. Zimbabwe holds 4.4% of global production and sells primarily to China, a key focus of global competition. And the African government refuses to give up its national sovereignty. The request for access to patient data is disturbing, as if privacy, which is untouchable in the US, were not a right for Africans. So far, 16 African countries have signed new health agreements with the United States for a total cost of $18.3 billion, according to the Africa Report website, citing the US Embassy in Zimbabwe.

But other countries have rejected them. For example, Kenya, where a court, at the end of 2025, suspended a $1.6 billion agreement with the United States based on the lack of consumer data protection. Zambia also intends to reject a billion dollars from the Trump administration because it refuses to share Zambian patient data and access to its mining concessions. USAID, despite its hypocrisy, was created in the 1960s to project a better image of the United States around the world by helping poor countries—including those poor because they were exploited by the US—with lifesaving programs for the most vulnerable, keeping alive a vague concept of solidarity. IT'S CALLED SOFT POWER. Yet today, the new Trump administration clearly considers these concepts outdated and grants aid only to those who have something to offer in exchange for lifesaving programs, in this case, sensitive data and rare earths. Goodbye to even the most minimal solidarity, which has become superfluous in the antidemocratic and elitist political project of the techno-right's super-billionaires that brought Donald Trump back to the White House.

Paolo Lambruschi
NP March 2026