U.S. Demands to Access Africans’ Data Raise Privacy, Sovereignty Concerns — ProPublica

U.S. Demands to Access Africans’ Data Raise Privacy, Sovereignty Concerns — ProPublica

https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-state-department-africa-uganda-aid-medical-data-privacy

Publish Date: 2026-06-17 05:00:00

Source Domain: www.propublica.org

Reporting Highlights

• Strings Attached: U.S. officials are demanding access to the health data of millions of Africans as a condition of giving billions of dollars in lifesaving aid to African countries.
• Privacy Concerns: Experts said the deals are vague and lack standard language to guard personal data from being exposed, misused or commercialized without people’s consent.   
• America First: The U.S. said it needs access to the data to keep people safe and that it will be anonymized. The deals are part of a plan to use aid to make America “more prosperous.”

These highlights were written by the reporters and editors who worked on this story.

Frank Ssekamwa says the United States presented his country with an impossible choice. If it accepted the terms of a new health agreement, Uganda would have to give the U.S. access to the data of millions of his fellow citizens — a decision he worries would make their personal information more vulnerable to breaches and possible exploitation.

But if it refused, the East African nation would likely lose out on more than a billion dollars to address HIV, malaria, tuberculosis and other illnesses, even as its people face ongoing threats from Ebola and other deadly infectious diseases. 

So, on Dec. 10, it agreed.

“If you take the deal, you’re going to be exploited. If you don’t take it, you’re going to die,” said Ssekamwa, an attorney and digital rights expert in Uganda. “It’s the essence of digital colonialism.”

Across Africa, countries have faced similar dilemmas as the U.S. has held a series of closed-door negotiations in which lifesaving aid has been conditioned on access to citizens’ health data. The negotiations come in the wake of the dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development, which — in contrast with the new contracts — provided billions of dollars in aid with few strings attached. Officials in Zambia, Zimbabwe and Ghana have been so…

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