By: ThinkBusiness Africa
The High Court of Kenya has issued a temporary injunction suspending a key provision of a landmark $1.6 billion (approximately Ksh 208 billion) Health Cooperation Framework signed last week between the Government of Kenya and the United States.
The suspension targets the core issue of data privacy, halting any transfer or sharing of sensitive medical and epidemiological data under the agreement until a constitutional challenge is heard.
High Court Judge Bahati Mwamuye granted the interim orders following a petition filed by the Consumers Federation of Kenya (COFEK), which argued that the bilateral pact poses a significant threat to the personal health information of millions of Kenyans.
This ruling effectively pauses the operational aspects of the deal that rely on the exchange of health data, a foundational component of the framework intended to strengthen Kenya’s disease surveillance and digital health systems.
COFEK argues that the pact, due to its massive financial implications and direct impact on citizens’ rights, required robust public participation and parliamentary scrutiny before its signing, which was allegedly bypassed.
“Decision-making informed by Kenyan health data must be public, auditable and jointly supervised, with consumer representatives involved in data processing, and monitoring,” COFEK noted in a statement.
The Health Cooperation Framework, signed by President William Ruto and US officials, was hailed as a “game-changer” that would channel $1.6 billion in U.S. aid directly through Kenyan government systems over five years, moving away from reliance on third-party NGOs.
Up to $1.6 billion in direct funding for programs like HIV/AIDS, malaria, and maternal health. The pact will also see that Kenya increases domestic health expenditures by an estimated $850 million over the same period, with the goal of achieving self-reliance in funding health programs by 2030.
Rwanda signed a similar deal last week, formalizing a five-year, $228 million health cooperation agreement with the U.S, which will see the country increase its domestic health spending by over $70 million during the 5 years period.
The court has given the respondents until January 16, 2026, to file their official responses to the petition. The case will be mentioned again on February 12, 2026, to set directions for the full hearing.
