Today, the United States and Liberia have achieved a historic milestone in advancing the America First Global Health Strategy by signing a five-year, bilateral health cooperation Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).
Over the next five years and working with Congress, the United States intends to provide up to $125 million in health assistance to Liberia, supporting critical areas such as HIV/AIDS, malaria, maternal and child health, and global health security. In turn, Liberia will commit to increase its domestic health expenditures by almost $51 million to gradually assume greater financial and operational responsibility for its domestic health systems. This $176 million bilateral MOU will accelerate Liberia's transition toward self-reliance and sustainability, ultimately saving U.S. taxpayers' dollars and securing long-term health outcomes.
Liberia has demonstrated remarkable progress over the past decade, including significant strides toward the 95-95-95 goals for controlling the HIV epidemic, reducing malaria incidence by over 30 percent, and strengthening laboratory capacity and disease surveillance. These achievements represent Liberia's resilience and resolve, positioning the nation to assume full ownership of its health systems and to overcome the redundancies and inefficiencies that are inherent in NGOs models.
The United States will continue to sign multi-year Bilateral Agreements on Global Health Cooperation with dozens of countries receiving U.S. health assistance in the coming weeks to advance the America First Global Health Strategy.
