{"id":28932,"date":"2026-03-17T07:50:02","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T05:50:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=28932"},"modified":"2026-03-17T07:50:02","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T05:50:02","slug":"us-considers-withholding-hiv-aid-to-zambia-in-minerals-negotiation","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/us-considers-withholding-hiv-aid-to-zambia-in-minerals-negotiation\/","title":{"rendered":"US considers withholding HIV aid to Zambia in minerals negotiation"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>The United States (US) Department of State is reportedly considering withholding lifesaving Human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) assistance to Zambia as a negotiating tactic to secure greater access to the country\u2019s critical minerals.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>According to <i>The New York Times<\/i>, the proposal is contained in a draft memo prepared for US Secretary of State Marco Rubio by the department\u2019s Africa Bureau.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The report suggests Washington is aiming to counter China\u2019s influence and access to Zambia\u2019s mineral resources.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Earlier, Zimbabwe rejected a similar health deal with the US over demands for sensitive biological data.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The report further indicates that the Trump administration has signed bilateral health agreements worth nearly $20 billion with at least 18 African countries, including Lesotho and Botswana.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>In February, the Zambian government pushed back on elements of a proposed Memorandum of Understanding, which included $1 billion in US funding over five years to combat HIV and malaria, alongside a required $340 million contribution from Zambia.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Zambia maintained that the agreement should remain focused on health priorities, while expressing openness to engagements aligned with its national interests.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The reports says US would secure its priorities by demonstrating a willingness to publicly withdraw support from Zambia on a massive scale.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8211;SABC\/ChannelAfrica&#8211;<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":15535,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[78,26],"class_list":["post-28932","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-featured","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"The report suggests Washington is aiming to counter China\u2019s influence and access to Zambia\u2019s mineral resources.","published_date":"","news_description":"The report suggests Washington is aiming to counter China\u2019s influence and access to Zambia\u2019s mineral resources.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/28932","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/28932\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28933,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/28932\/revisions\/28933"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15535"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=28932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}