The United States has signed a landmark bilateral health agreement with Kenya, marking the first major step in the Trump administration’s new America First Global Health Strategy.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the deal in Washington on Thursday, December 4, 2025, after hosting Kenyan President William Samoei Ruto and Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi.

The agreement, which Rubio described as a model for dozens of similar compacts expected “in the coming weeks,” is designed to shift how U.S. global health assistance is delivered.

Instead of funneling large portions of aid through NGOs and parallel structures, the new approach pushes resources into Kenya’s national health system — and requires the Kenyan government to co-invest significantly in return.

Rubio said the pact “supports Kenya’s leadership in charting its own health priorities” by bolstering data systems, procurement capacity, and modernization efforts needed for long-term self-reliance. The deal also sets out performance benchmarks intended to ensure accountability on both sides.

For Kenya, the agreement represents both an opportunity and a test: more direct control over health financing, but also greater responsibility for meeting targets without the insulation traditionally provided by donor-run programs. For Washington, it is a key example of how the administration wants to reshape foreign assistance — tightening oversight, reducing what Rubio called “dependency, ideology, inefficiency, and waste,” and moving partner nations toward financial and operational independence.

Global health experts will be watching closely.

The shift away from NGO-dominated systems could help strengthen national capacity if executed well, but it also risks straining public health operations in countries where government systems remain uneven. Kenya, however, has made significant reforms in recent years, and officials in Nairobi have repeatedly signaled their desire for more direct funding and clearer lines of accountability.

Rubio said he expects “several more agreements” to be finalized soon, positioning the Kenya compact as the first in a new wave of bilateral health deals intended to “strengthen the foreign assistance architecture” under the America First doctrine.

As Africa continues navigating post-pandemic pressures — from supply chain vulnerabilities to rising infectious disease threats — the U.S.–Kenya partnership will serve as an early test of whether the administration’s reworked global health strategy can deliver both efficiency and impact.

Kenya has just made the dream of “coming home” a lot more real.

At a packed launch inside Nairobi Serena Hotel, the government officially rolled out the Journey Back to Eden (JBE) Initiative, a structured pathway for African Americans, Afro-Caribbeans, and long-lost Kenyans abroad to visit, invest, and eventually settle back on the continent.

The partnership pairs three ministries (Tourism & Wildlife, Foreign Affairs, and the Kenya Tourism Board) with Traverze Culture, an African-American-owned relocation company led by CEO Kea Wakesho Simmons.

Tourism Principal Secretary John Lekakeny Ololtuaa put it plainly: “Kenya is ready to receive you. This is not just tourism. This is family coming home.”

Traverze is bringing serious muscle: curated 7- and 12-day immersion trips that go far beyond safaris, real estate tours in Nairobi and the coast, medical tourism packages, investment briefings, and even school visits so families can picture life here. The Aga Khan Development Network is on board for healthcare and education support, while Tuua Safaris handles the on-ground experience.

Simmons didn’t mince words about the economic upside. “African Americans alone have $1.6 trillion in annual spending power,” she said. “When the diaspora moves even a fraction of that wallet home, entire communities change.”

For many in the room, the moment felt personal.

Ghana’s Year of Return showed the world what happens when a country says “welcome home” and actually means it, tourism boomed, land was bought, businesses opened, hearts healed.

Kenya is now stepping into that same lane, but with government muscle and private-sector polish. If JBE delivers even half of what it promises, Nairobi and Mombasa could soon feel a lot more like Brooklyn and Brixton, in the best possible way.

Africa has taken a defining step in its long struggle for historical justice. At a landmark gathering in Algiers, leaders from across the continent issued a unified declaration: colonialism was a crime; one with victims, consequences, and unsettled debts.

The International Conference on the Crimes of Colonialism in Africa, held from November 30 to December 1, brought together governments, scholars, activists and legal experts.

For the first time, African states collectively demanded that the global community recognize colonialism under international law as a criminal enterprise — not a “chapter of history,” not a “complex era,” but a system of violence, dispossession and exploitation.

This push goes far beyond symbolic statements. African nations called for three core actions:
formal recognition of colonialism as a crime; the return of stolen cultural treasures; and reparations for centuries of extraction and enforced underdevelopment.

The era of apologies is over

For decades, former colonial powers have offered regret, remorse and speeches crafted for diplomatic comfort — but never accountability. Algiers signaled a turning point.

African leaders were clear: the bill is due.

Ghana, serving as the continent’s “champion on reparations,” voiced its intention to introduce a formal motion affirming that the transatlantic slave trade must be recognized as the greatest crime against humanity.

The numbers remain staggering. More than 12.5 million Africans were forcibly taken and transported to build wealth for Western nations. Countless millions more endured land seizures, cultural suppression, and resource extraction across the continent during colonial rule.

Ghana’s delegation emphasized that reparations are not about reviving old wounds — but about addressing the consequences still felt today: underdevelopment, impoverishment, and the cultural devastation caused by looted heritage.

Beyond moral argument: Africa’s growing leverage

The timing of the declaration is no accident. African delegates repeatedly underscored that the continent now has:

• unity across regional blocs,
• a compelling legal case rooted in documented historical evidence, and
• strategic leverage as global powers compete for influence and resources.

With a young population, expanding markets, and rising geopolitical importance, Africa’s voice is harder than ever for the world to ignore.

The road ahead: opportunity and challenge

Observers say the Algiers declaration could mark the start of the most ambitious reparatory justice effort in modern history. But turning demands into enforceable international mechanisms will require:

1. A coordinated diplomatic strategy across African states;
2. Legal frameworks that can withstand scrutiny in international courts;
3. Broad public support both within Africa and across global civil society.

Still, what happened in Algiers is unmistakably historic — a break from the era when Africa was expected to request sympathy rather than demand justice.

This moment, leaders said, is not about revisiting the past but reshaping the future: Who gets to tell Africa’s story, how its nations negotiate on the world stage, and how its children understand the power of their inheritance.

For the first time, Africa is speaking with one voice:
Colonialism was a crime. And the world must finally reckon with it.