THE United States will practically match $1 to every $2.55 the Philippines invests in a new multi-year bilateral health agreement.
The US is committing more than P11.8 billion ($193 million) to the national health care system to strengthen detection, treatment and prevention of HIV and tuberculosis (TB), while bolstering global health security.
Under the Philippine-US Health Strategic Objective Agreement, Manila pledged more than P30 billion ($492 million) in co-investment over the next five years, marking the resumption of US health aid after the 2025 freeze.
Together, the two countries’ total joint investment would add up to P42 billion ($685 million) that, according to the US State Department, will help transition the Philippines to ‘greater autonomy and self-reliance in its health systems while strengthening [its] capacity to detect and respond to global health threats, including HIV, TB, and other infectious diseases.’
‘This agreement marks a new, five-year phase of bilateral cooperation and joint investment with the Philippine Department of Health,’ the US Embassy said in a statement.
The embassy highlighted that the US has been providing health aid in the Philippines for over 60 years.
That assistance-along with other development projects-was halted after the Trump administration’s freeze. USAID’s dismantling cut off about $34.7 million in President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief/USAID support for the Philippines’ HIV response in 2025.
Broader suspensions tied to the aid freeze disrupted up to $168 million in Department of Health programs covering the abovementioned diseases.
Unlike earlier USAID-backed portfolios, the new bilateral accord appears to have excluded malaria programs, narrowing its scope to HIV and TB alongside health system resiliency.
‘The agreement will save American and Filipino lives, increase the resiliency of the [national] health system through coordinated co-funding, and promote innovations to slow the spread of infectious diseases, like TB and HIV, that threaten both the US and the Philippines,’ the embassy added.
It described the agreement as ‘a milestone in the Trump administration’s ‘America First Global Health Strategy,” underscoring the shift toward bilateral, co-financed partnerships rather than open-ended grant aid.
Ambassador Lee Lipton signed the pact, highlighting the administration’s move away from the USAID-driven model that dominated for decades.