May 09, (THEWILL) – The US Government has withdrawn a total $50 million (K1.4 billion) in annual aid provided to Zambia for medications and medical supplies.
US Ambassador to Zambia, Michael Gonzales, said the decision follows the Zambian government’s failure to take action against theft of American-donated drugs.
Defending the action, Gonzales said the dynamics observed in the theft’s pattern and frequency, revealed an organised criminal endeavour involving fairly senior people.
Speaking at a media briefing on Thursday, Ambassador Gonzales noted that the Zambian government had taken minimal efforts towards addressing the situation..
Gonzales, however, assured that the US government will continue to deliver lifesaving medicines and medical supplies to Zambia until January 2026.
A text of the press statement reads: “It is with a heavy heart that I must announce that the United States is cutting $50 million – that’s 1.4 billion kwacha – in annual aid provided to Zambia for medications and medical supplies. For more than a year the United States has requested tangible action by the Government of Zambia to respond to the country-wide, systematic theft of these products. In the face of minimal responsive action by the government, the United States is taking necessary steps to safeguard, and ensure the accountability of, American taxpayer funds.
“For more than 60 years, the United States and Zambia have shared a strong friendship. Because of our commitment to Zambia and the Zambian people, in recent years the United States has invested roughly $600 million a year – that’s nearly 17 billion Zambian kwacha annually – toward our shared goals of economic development and improved health and wellbeing. Roughly one in every three kwacha spent on public health in Zambia comes as assistance from the American people. As part of this, in recent years the United States has provided approximately $128 million annually – nearly 3.5 billion kwacha – to buy medications to treat HIV, malaria, and tuberculosis, as well as to provide technical and operational support for Zambia’s national health supply chain. These medications and supplies are intended to be provided for free to Zambian patients in need.
“Today, millions of Zambians are living longer, healthier lives because of this assistance – which comes in the form of grants, not loans – provided by American taxpayers. We are incredibly proud to have partnered with Zambia to reverse the AIDS epidemic and reach epidemic control. Due to joint efforts by the United States and Zambia, 98 percent of Zambians living with HIV now know their status, 99 percent of Zambians who know they are HIV positive are now on treatment, and 98 percent of HIV positive Zambians on treatment are now virally suppressed – meaning they cannot transmit the virus. Beyond our support related to HIV, over the past ten years our joint efforts have helped reduce deaths from malaria and tuberculosis by more than 75 percent.
“Our investments in Zambia are intended to benefit the Zambian people. U.S.-donated medical supplies and medicines – which include antiretrovirals, also known as ARVs; TB and anti-malarial drugs; and others – are made available to Zambians for free. Today, one in every nine Zambians is living with HIV. The majority of those 1.3 million Zambians is virally suppressed because of ARVs provided by the United States and intended for free distribution. However, I am disappointed to share publicly today that since 2021, we have uncovered systemic theft of life-saving medicines and other products that were intended for free for the Zambian public, including ARVs.
“As soon as we discovered this country-wide theft in late-2021, we immediately informed the Zambian government of our findings and initiated an on-the-ground assessment of private pharmacies across Zambia to understand the extent of the issue. From 2021 to 2023, our buyers visited more than 2,000 pharmacies throughout Zambia that sell the same types of products that the United States provides for free to Zambia’s healthcare system. Shockingly, across these visits, 95 percent of the pharmacies that were selling the kinds of products that the United States provides were also selling stolen goods. Of those pharmacies selling stolen goods, 45 percent were selling stolen products that the United States had provided to Zambia for free to Zambians in need. Let me repeat that: in all ten provinces, nearly half of the pharmacies that were selling the kinds of products the United States provides for free for the Zambian people were selling stolen medications and medical supplies donated by the U.S. government. The rest of the pharmacies selling stolen products were selling stolen medications and supplies from stocks purchased by the Zambian government, the Global Fund, and Zambia’s other donor partners.
“On April 3 of last year, 2024, I brought this alarming information to the attention of senior Zambian government leaders. In attendance at the meeting were high level officials from multiple ministries, law enforcement agencies, and the executive. I asked them to take meaningful action on two fronts: first, mitigate further theft and, second, enforce high-level accountability for those involved in stealing life-saving medicines from the Zambian people. Over the next 12 months through more than 33 meetings with Permanent Secretary-level officials or higher across the Zambian government, U.S. Embassy staff, senior U.S. officials from Washington, and I reiterated our request for action to stop further theft and to bring the culprits to justice. We even offered U.S. government experts in supply chain management and law enforcement to partner with Zambian counterparts to support the requested efforts.
“I regret that to date, the government’s actions have fallen drastically short of demonstrating a commitment to safeguarding U.S. assistance and the lives we aim to save. 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. And more than six months into a forensic audit of the Zambian Medicines and Medical Supplies Agency’s (ZAMMSA) mismanagement, there is still no public report, nor has a report been shared with the United States. Since October, I have alerted senior government officials of my obligation to safeguard American taxpayers’ resources in the face of gross theft and mismanagement. I have stressed repeatedly that the accountable safeguarding of American taxpayer funds will require the United States to significantly reduce our contribution of medicines and medical supplies if meaningful action was not taken to hold high-level culprits responsible and stop the theft.
“After more than a year of little tangible action by Zambian authorities to address this systematic theft of U.S.-provided health support, 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.
“As a result, and with a very heavy heart, the U.S. government has made the difficult decision to cut $50 million of our annual support for critically needed medications and medical supplies in Zambia. Again, that is 1.4 billion kwacha of assistance being reduced. The exact parameters of the reduction are not yet finalised, and my Embassy team and I remain available to the government to discuss the matter. This is not a decision we have taken lightly. I have recommended to Washington that we continue to procure and deliver these lifesaving medicines and medical supplies to Zambia until January 2026 to provide time for the government to develop a transition plan, budget, and initiate procurements to avoid stock-outs of these medications. After that point, we will offer technical and logistics assistance to support humanitarian activities and prevent drug resistance and disease transmission, but we will cut $50 million of our annual contribution to providing malaria, HIV, and TB medicines.
“As you may know, the Trump Administration is in the process of finalising a broader review of our foreign assistance funding around the world, including here in Zambia. That review is still underway. But I want to stress that this $50 million cut in our medicines and medical supplies budget is wholly separate from that process. This reduction is exclusively because of the lack of action by the Zambian government to respond to the country-wide, systematic theft of American-donated medications and medical supplies.
“Moving forward, we remain committed to supporting Zambia and the Zambian people to realise the massive potential that this great country possesses. Zambia’s prosperous economic future – and a healthy population that can drive that future – is in the shared interest of both Americans and Zambians. The United States remains interested in contributing to that future. But, we are no longer willing to underwrite the personal enrichment of fraudsters or the corrupt when patients go without or have to buy life-saving medications that we have provided for free, and the Zambian government does not take action to enforce meaningful accountability or introduce systemic reforms to ensure the resources that belong to the people actually reach them.”
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