Kenya court suspends ‘landmark’ US health deal
Kenya’s High Court has temporarily suspended a landmark health cooperation deal with the US over claims that the agreement exposes sensitive medical information about people in the East African country to unlawful access.
The five-year pact, signed in Washington on December 4, is worth more than $1.6 billion and was billed by both governments as a new model for US health aid that channels funding directly to state institutions while pushing partners to raise domestic health spending.
However, the non-profit Consumers Federation of Kenya (COFEK) filed a court petition, warning that the deal could allow the US access to personal medical records, including HIV status.
In a statement on Wednesday, COFEK said a section of the agreement lacks “clarity and should be expressly defined or expunged.” It argued that the deal exposes Kenyan nationals to “lasting privacy violations, stigma, and potential misuse of their information.”
“Kenya should cooperate boldly but safeguard fiercely: partnership must not translate into surrender of sovereignty, consumer rights, or control of national health data,” the lobby group stated.
In an order issued late Wednesday, Judge Bahati Mwamuye directed a halt to any part of the agreement involving the transfer or sharing of personal data of a medical, epidemiological, or sensitive nature until a hearing on February 12, 2026.
During the signing ceremony last week, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio described the US-Kenya Health Cooperation Framework as a landmark agreement.
Kenyan President William Ruto has sought to reassure the public that national law will govern the handling of citizens’ data, saying the attorney general reviewed the agreement “with a fine-tooth comb” to ensure safeguards are in place.
Rwanda, Lesotho, Liberia, and Uganda have reportedly entered into similar agreements with Washington.
More than 50 civil society groups have warned in an open letter addressed to African heads of state and government that proposed US health aid agreements could “undermine sovereignty” by granting Washington “expansive access” to national health data systems and pathogen information. They said the terms may have weak safeguards for privacy and security and offer no guarantees of reciprocal benefits such as vaccines, technology transfer, or local manufacturing.
