AIDS for Minerals: How Washington Turned a Lifeline Into Leverage
The deadline came and went.
April 30 passed without a signed agreement, and with it, the fate of 1.3 million Zambians dependent on American-funded antiretroviral drugs slid deeper into uncertainty. The Trump administration had given Zambia an ultimatum: sign a deal by April 30 or lose all United States support for its HIV program — the same program that has kept the country’s public health infrastructure from collapsing for more than two decades.
What Washington wanted in return was not accountability, or even reform.
It wanted minerals. Here is what went down.
