Building Health Resilience in Burundi Through the America First Global Health Strategy

On February 6, the United States and the Government of the Burundi signed a five-year bilateral health cooperation Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that advances the America First Global Health Strategy while protecting Americans from infectious disease threats.

Through the MOU, working with Congress, the Department of State intends to provide more than $129 million over the next five years to support Burundi’s efforts to combat HIV/AIDS and malaria, while bolstering disease surveillance and outbreak response. The Government of Burundi commits to increasing its own domestic health expenditures by $26 million over the course of the five-year MOU assuming greater self-reliance in its own health system.

Building on the United States’ decades of fighting HIV/AIDS and malaria in Burundi, this MOU safeguards Americans by strengthening Burundi’s capacity to detect and contain infectious disease outbreaks before they spread internationally. The five-year MOU will help the government of Burundi continue to treat 97 percent of those living with HIV while cutting the rate of malaria deaths in children under five in Burundi in half. Overall, the MOU strengthens Burundi’s management of infectious diseases through an enhanced integrated service delivery model designed to improve cost efficiency, quality, and retention in health care, saving lives and helping Burundi become more self-reliant in responding to infectious disease outbreaks before they reach American shores.

America First Global Health Strategy Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) signed so far represent more than $18.3 billion in new health funding including more than $11.18 billion in U.S. assistance alongside $7.12 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 February 6, the State Department has signed 16 bilateral global health MOUs.