United States and the Philippines Sign Joint Declaration of Intent to Strengthen Bilateral Health Cooperation

Today, the United States and the Republic of the Philippines signed a Joint Declaration of Intent to establish a framework for health cooperation to transition the Philippines to greater autonomy and self-reliance in its health systems while strengthening the Philippines’ capacity to detect and respond to global health threats, including HIV, tuberculosis (TB), and other infectious diseases. Signed through the Trump Administration’s America First Global Health Strategy, this Joint Declaration of Intent commits to co-funding mutually agreed upon global health objectives in the near future, furthering U.S.-Philippine bilateral collaboration in the health sector. This Joint Declaration is complemented by the U.S. health assistance announced in September 2025 to combat tuberculosis, advance maternal health, and strengthen disease surveillance and outbreak response.

Under the Joint Declaration, the United States and the Philippines will negotiate a five-year Strategic Objective Agreement that advances all three pillars of the Trump Administration’s America First Global Health Strategy. This new arrangement will save American and Filipino lives, increase the resiliency of the Philippine health system through coordinated co-funding, and promote innovations in program delivery to slow the spread of infectious diseases like TB and HIV. The Trump administration’s America First Global Health Strategy helps safeguard Americans from health threats while enhancing the well-being of people in the region.

America First Global Health Strategy Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) signed so far represent more than $20.6 billion in new health funding including more than $12.8 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 7, the State Department has signed 30 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, the Philippines, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Tajikistan, and Uganda.