Burkina Faso has become the latest African country to sign Donald Trump’s controversial health funding deal. 

This development has sparked curiosity, not just because of widespread concern about such deals, but also given that Burkina Faso, under President Ibrahim Traoré, has been one of the African countries turning their backs on Western powers in recent years. 

Under the deal, the US will provide $147 million while Burkina Faso will contribute $107 million over the next five years. 

Such US funding under Trump’s America First Global Health Strategy is reportedly linked to granting Washington access to mineral resources and harvesting personal health data of Africans. 

It's not immediately clear whether those controversial elements are included in the US-Burkina Faso agreement. 

‘Digitize data reporting’

However, the US Department of State said the deal is expected to help “improve and digitize data reporting” and tackle infectious diseases “before they spread regionally or reach the United States.” 

Burkina Faso has not yet publicly commented on the deal. Some analysts say the agreement could be a result of recent diplomatic overtures by the Trump administration, engaging with countries in the Sahel, in sharp contrast to the approach of its predecessor. 

Burkina Faso is one of Africa's top gold producers, in addition to other mineral resources like copper, diamond and bauxite. 

Since coming to power in 2022, Traoré has vowed to protect his country's resources from “unfair” exploitation by foreign powers.

DR Congo accepts deal

Meanwhile, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, another resource-rich country, has also signed the Trump health deal worth $1.2 billion. 

According to the US State Department, 18 African countries have accepted the Trump “America First” packages worth a total of $18 billion. 

The countries are: Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, DRC and Uganda. 

However, Zambia and Zimbabwe have turned down the Trump packages, reportedly due to concerns over sharing sensitive health data and access to mineral resources. 

The Director-General of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, Jean Kaseya, has expressed “huge concerns” over pathogen-sharing as part of the deals. 

The Trump administration, pursuing a transactional foreign policy, has repeatedly said that US foreign funding should not be treated as a "charity" and that Washington's interest must be the top priority