Charting a New Phase of Trump Administration’s America First Global Health Strategy in Asia, Beginning with Cambodia

On April 2, the United States signed a bilateral health cooperation Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Royal Government of Cambodia through the Trump Administration’s America First Global Health Strategy (AFGHS). This landmark five-year MOU is the first to be signed through the Trump Administration’s AFGHS in Asia, and advances shared global health goals, such as preventing the spread of infectious diseases like HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis.

Working with Congress, the Department of State intends to provide more than $30.8 million to strengthen and sustain Cambodian infectious disease prevention and response capabilities and accurately identify pathogens of epidemic and pandemic potential before they spread internationally. Through the bilateral health MOU, the Royal Government of Cambodia has committed to increasing its own domestic expenditures by more than $5.3 million, assuming greater ownership of their commodity chains while continuing to rollout new innovative diagnostics, vaccines, drugs, and other life-saving interventions.

The jointly decided, $36.1 million bilateral health MOU also includes $5 million in global health security funding to bolster and sustain a robust network of laboratories and aims to achieve malaria elimination in Cambodia, ultimately strengthening independent, locally led Cambodian leadership over its national health system. Through the Trump Administration’s AFGHS, this bilateral MOU ensures that decades of cooperation and gains made in Cambodia through U.S. global health support are preserved and owned by the Cambodian government.

America First Global Health Strategy Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) signed so far represent more than $20.5 billion in new health funding including more than $12.7 billion in U.S. assistance alongside $7.8 billion in co-investment from recipient countries, building on decades of progress fighting HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, and other infectious diseases around the world. As of April 2, the State Department has signed 28 bilateral global health MOUs with Angola, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Guinea, Honduras, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Panama, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Uganda.