US strikes deal to keep sending health supplies to world's poorest countries

The United States government has made a new deal to keep sending free, life-saving medicine and supplies to some of the world's poorest countries. The agreement is with UNICEF, the United Nations agency that works to protect children. It is worth $25 million and will last for one year. The deal covers supplies for mothers, babies, and young children in at least 15 countries.

For many months, aid workers and government officials had been worried that these supplies might stop coming. The old program that sent the medicine was run by a US agency called USAID. That agency was shut down as part of a new US policy that cut many foreign aid programs. Because of this, some countries had already run out of important medicines before this new deal was reached.

The new agreement means that countries like the Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti, and Mali will not face a sudden stop in their medical supplies. These nations have been counting on this aid while they work out new long-term health deals with the United States. Officials say it takes more than a year just to place and receive new medicine orders, so having this gap covered is very important.

In the Congo, the shortages have already caused real harm to people. At a hospital in eastern Congo called Nyangezi General Hospital, health workers ran out of a drug called oxytocin, which stops dangerous bleeding after a mother gives birth. They also ran out of amoxicillin, an antibiotic used to treat infections in children and during childbirth. A midwife named Alice Bulambo told reporters, 'It was a donation we received previously from USAID, and at the moment, there is none.'

The local government warehouse in that part of Congo has been out of stock for more than a year. Because of this, clinics have had to buy medicine at regular market prices instead of getting it for free. A local health official named Olivier Kabarati Amani said that over the last six months, 'the cost of care has doubled, if not tripled.' This is happening while the region is also dealing with an Ebola outbreak, which makes things even harder.

The US State Department said it has made it a top priority to make sure life-saving supplies keep reaching people who need them. The Trump administration's 'America First Global Health Strategy' changed how the US gives health aid around the world. Instead of sending supplies through a big program, the US has signed more than 30 separate deals with individual countries. These deals ask those countries to help pay for some of the costs themselves.

However, the details of many of those new deals are still being worked out. The Congolese government hopes to take full control of ordering its own health supplies by next year. A coordinator in the Congolese president's office named Polydor Kabila said his government has struggled with all the uncertainty. The UNICEF deal gives these countries more time to prepare without risking the lives of mothers and children.

The US also took other steps to fill the gap left by the old program. It extended deadlines for deliveries of some malaria and HIV supplies through the old contractor, a company called Chemonics. It also made a deal with the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, so countries can order new US-funded HIV and malaria supplies through that group. UNICEF said it looks forward to working with the US to 'keep health and nutrition supplies moving so more children receive life-saving care.'