Ghana rejects $109m US health aid deal over data privacy concerns

Ghana has declined to proceed with a proposed bilateral health deal with the United States of America, marking a setback to President Donald Trump's administration to overhaul foreign aid.

According to Reuters, the decision reported on April 28, 2026, came after the John Dramani Mahama led government objected to sharing of sensitive national health data as part of the conditions of the deal.

Similar concerns of data governance have also come in the US negotiations with other African countries.

Earlier in 2026, Zimbabwe also raised similar issues, while in Kenya, implementation of a related agreement was temporarily suspended by a court pending the hearing of a case filed by a consumer protection ⁠group.

Meanwhile, Spokesperson for Ghana's Foreign Ministry and the government did not respond to requests for further deliberation.

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The US State Department also refused to disclose details of the bilateral negotiations.

"We continue to look for ways to strengthen the bilateral partnership between our two countries," a spokesperson said.

The Trump administration’s "America First Global Health Strategy" announced in September 2026, outlines a vision for US leadership in global health that emphasises protecting Americans, strengthening US health security, and promoting prosperity through strategic foreign assistance.

It is aimed at a long-term goal of reducing reliance on foreign aid.

According to US government foreign assistance data, the US has disbursed $219 million in foreign assistance to ‌Ghana, ⁠including $96 million specifically for health, for 2024, the year before the Trump administration's foreign aid cut.

The proposed deal that the two sides started negotiating in November 2025, would have delivered $109 million in US assistance for health over five years.

However, the financial obligations for Ghana under the new agreement were not clearly defined.

"They were pretty normal dealings and negotiations in the beginning, and then increasingly there was a lot more pressure, especially at the end," the report noted.

Washington reportedly set April 24, 2026, as the deadline to conclude the negotiations, and ⁠Ghana decided it could not agree to what was being proposed.

Ghana has since formally communicated its position to the Trump administration.

JKB/VPO

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