Dar es Salaam—Following about two months of negotiations between the two countries, the governments of Tanzania and the United States signed a five-year bilateral global health Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on July 1, 2026, at the Julius Nyerere International Convention Centre (JNICC) in Dar es Salaam.
Through the MOU, Tanzania is expected to receive funding support for the improvement of digital health infrastructure, expanding disease surveillance, and supporting Tanzania’s efforts to develop and implement a single, unified national digital health ecosystem.
The MOU also aims ‘to develop and sustain an integrated, interoperable, and optimized laboratory network across multiple levels of the health system’, capable of meeting the benchmarks of the 7-1-7 outbreak detection and response framework. Meaning suspected outbreaks should be detected within seven days, reported to the Tanzanian public health authorities and the U.S. government within one day, and met with an effective response within seven days.
The MOU will see a five-year co-investment between Tanzania and the U.S, where the U.S will invest about US 1.3 billion, and Tanzania will invest about 1.8 billion in reaching the MOU outcomes. Speaking about the deal, the Tanzanian Minister of Health, Mohammed Mchengerwa, termed the MOU as the best in Africa and argues it is a roadmap out of dependence.
“[The agreement] is not a continuation of dependence; it is a roadmap out of it. Under this agreement, Tanzania commits to co-invest more than 1.8 billion dollars of its own resources over the same period,” Mchengerwa argued.
“By the year 2030, it is Tanzania, not Washington, that will carry the larger share; we will absorb our health workers onto our own payroll. We will finance our own medicines, and we will fund our own laboratories,” he emphasized.
The MOU is part of the U.S government health strategy dubbed The America First Global Health Strategy. The strategy builds on bilateral agreements, and it is the core strategy of the US after its withdrawal from the World Health Organization.
Speaking during the signing, the Acting Chargé d’Affaires of the U.S. Embassy in Tanzania, Jeanne Clark, said the MOU represents a new five-year chapter in the longstanding health partnership between the United States and Tanzania.
“By investing together, we are strengthening Tanzania’s ability to prevent, detect, and respond rapidly to health threats, while building self-sustaining systems that can continue delivering high-quality services for generations. Stronger self-reliance and health security in Tanzania protect Americans and Tanzanians by stopping dangerous outbreaks at their source and before they cross borders and spread internationally,” she said.
Tanzania is one of the 24 African countries that have signed the MOU. Up to July 01, 2026, there were about 34 countries that had signed the agreement.
The agreement has also sparked debate in some countries in Africa, including Ghana, Zambia and Zimbabwe, with questions raised on data sovereignty. Speaking in that regard, the Tanzanian government maintained that no exchange of biological samples will be done outside Tanzanian soil.
“In the course of these negotiations, our partners and we discussed many instruments, and one matter Tanzanian made a clear choice: we did not enter into a specimen sharing agreement. We made that choice not out of mistrust but out of confidence that Tanzania will develop its own internal laboratory capacity,” Mchengerwa said.
“Tanzanian specimens, including those of outbreak, epidemic, and pandemic potential, will be tested, stored, and governed here on Tanzanian soil. To the highest international standard of biosafety and biosecurity,” he emphasized.
Diplomacy
The MOU signing comes at a time when Tanzania is facing significant diplomatic pressure, following the botched 2025 election, which saw the historical killing of hundreds of Tanzanians in a security clampdown against protests.
One of the pressure points is the proposed Sanctions Bill by the U.S senators. In easing the pressure Tanzania government has intensified engagement with the U.S government, including by signing several stalled commercial deals as well as signing new pacts.
At the signing of the health MOU, the Tanzanian Foreign Affairs Minister, Ambassador Mahmoud Thabit Kombo, was able to highlight the efforts taken by the country in amplifying engagement with Washington.
“This is a mega step achieved today, when the Nebraska agreement was signed; that was another mega step achieved. But another mega step achieved was concluding some of our mineral research and exploration agreements, and they are in the final part,” Kombo said.
READ: US Senate Committee Advances Tanzania Sanctions Bill as Top Diplomats Hold Bilateral Talks
“Thank you, United States, for taking a front seat role in the health sector, and I’m sure you will be able to resolve a lot of other issues as well, including the Visa issues for B1 and B2,” He added.
Kombo was able to highlight his recent trip to Washington, where, among other items, he met the U.S Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, Allison M. Hooker. He also highlighted that he met with Senators and Congressmen.
“We are very proud of our relationship with the United States. A lot has been said, but ignore what has been said. Thank you very much to your government. I was received very warmly at the Department of State, very recently, only two weeks back,” he said.
“My appointment was with the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, but I was met with Allison Hooker. We had an extensive discussion on the social aspect, the political aspect, the security aspect, the health aspect, education, vaccination, and disease control.”
He emphasized: “There was no aspect that was left in our discussion, including the Nebraska agreement, which is also an important agreement, including the maritime patrolling for anti-narcotics and anti-terrorism, plus others. This shows how close we are despite any other issue that has been said; we are very, very close.”
In sustaining diplomatic efforts toward Washington, Tanzania has maintained the services of various lobbying, communication, and intelligence firms. This includes Ervin Graves Strategy Group, private intelligence firm Drift Advisors, which on June 18, 2026, contracted BGR Group in a three-million-dollar contract on behalf of Tanzania for one year of advisory services to the country on government relations services regarding U.S.- Tanzania relations.
