U.S. Considers Withholding H.I.V. Aid Unless Zambia Expands Minerals Access

Source: The New York Times

The State Department is considering withholding lifesaving assistance to people with H.I.V. in Zambia as a negotiating tactic to force the government of the southern African country to sign a deal giving the United States more access to the country’s critical minerals.

“We will only secure our priorities by demonstrating willingness to publicly take support away from Zambia on a massive scale,” a draft of a memo prepared for Secretary of State Marco Rubio by the department’s Africa Bureau staff says. A copy of the memo was obtained by The New York Times.

Some 1.3 million people in Zambia rely on daily H.I.V. treatment that is provided through the decades-old U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (known as PEPFAR) and on tuberculosis and malaria medications that save tens of thousands of Zambian lives each year. The Trump administration is considering whether to “significantly cut assistance” as soon as May, to increase pressure on Zambia, the memo says.

In the wake of the Trump administration’s broad cut to foreign aid last year, the State Department has been pushing countries to sign new agreements pledging to meet certain conditions to receive American funds. Twenty-four countries have signed agreements so far, worth a total of $20 billion in health aid over five years. In most cases the main requirement on the recipient country is that its government commit to increasing its own health spending.



Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/16/health/zambia-hiv-aid-minerals-trump.html