For centuries, the relationship between Africa and the great powers has been defined by extraction. First came gold, ivory, and rubber; later oil, uranium, and cobalt. Today, a new strategic frontier is emerging: data. Among them, health data is rapidly becoming one of the most sensitive resources of the twenty-first century.
Recent health cooperation agreements proposed by the United States to several African countries have sparked a profound debate about the nature of international assistance and the meaning of sovereignty in the digital age. Officially, these agreements aim to strengthen epidemiological surveillance, accelerate the detection of outbreaks, and improve responses to future pandemics. In a world that still remembers the lessons of COVID-19, such objectives appear, at least in principle, legitimate.
For many African policymakers, access to large-scale health databases is not merely a scientific tool; it is also an economic and strategic asset. Genomic, epidemiological, and biomedical data make it possible to develop vaccines, treatments, and medical technologies that generate enormous value for pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. When such data leave Africa without clear guarantees of scientific, industrial, or public health returns for the countries that generated them, the balance of cooperation becomes fragile.
For this reason, some analysts now speak of a new form of “bio-colonization.” The term may appear provocative, yet it captures a genuine concern: that Africa may once again occupy the role of supplier of raw materials—this time digital and biological—while the value added is generated elsewhere.
The reservations recently expressed by countries such as Zimbabwe and Zambia should not be interpreted as a rejection of international cooperation. On the contrary, they reflect a legitimate aspiration: to participate in that cooperation from a position of dignity, reciprocity, and sovereignty.
Africa cannot afford to renounce global partnerships in health. Its healthcare systems continue to confront enormous challenges: persistent infectious diseases, limited resources, and structural inequalities in access to medicines. Yet cooperation must not become a synonym for dependency, nor should solidarity be confused with extraction.
The real challenge lies in building a new model of collaboration—one in which data sharing is accompanied by technological transfer, local pharmaceutical production, equitable access to the treatments developed, and robust protection of African digital sovereignty.
Global health cannot rest upon a logic of domination but must instead be grounded in an ethic of interdependence. Pandemics recognize no borders, but scientific justice requires fair rules.
