US cuts $50mn health aid to Zambia over medicines theft

The United States will cut $50 million in annual medical funding to Zambia over its weak response to the alleged theft and sale of donated drugs meant to be provided for free, its ambassador said on Thursday.The US embassy had in 2024 demanded Lusaka act on "the systemic theft of life-saving medicines and other products that were intended for free for the Zambian public", ambassador Michael Gonzales told reporters.These included live-saving medicines to treat malaria, HIV, and tuberculosis. "Instead of investigating supply sources and pursuing the masterminds behind the theft of medicines, law enforcement operations have focused on low-level actors and have led to the arrest of only a few mid-level officials," he said.

There was no immediate comment from the health ministry.The "United States can no longer justify to the American taxpayer continuing to provide such massive levels of assistance when the Zambian government will not take the necessary measures to protect this American investment," the ambassador said.The debt-ridden southern African nation of 21 million people is heavily reliant on foreign aid. About one-third of its public health spending comes from the United States, according to Washington.

The fraud was discovered in late 2021 and an inspection at more than 2,000 pharmacies last year had found that most were selling stolen goods, including products the United States provided for free, Gonzales said.Some pharmacies were selling items purchased by the Zambian government, the Geneva-based Global Fund and other donors. More than 64 per cent of the population of copper-rich Zambia lives in poverty, a legacy of years of runaway corruption at the hands of a few politically connected people. President Hakainde Hichilema was elected in 2021 on a promise to root out graft and woo back investors. There were high-profile arrests at the beginning of his tenure and seizures of hotels and helicopters belonging to a former minister. However the fight against corruption has since slowed. Gonzales said the cuts he announced were separate from a broader review of foreign aid spending by the administration of President Donald Trump.Asked if the action, to apply from January 2026, could be undone if the government took more action, the ambassador said: "At this point, after three years of raising it and one year of intensive engagement and requests, we have made this decision."