DAKAR, March 2 (Reuters) - Guinea and the United States have signed a five-year health cooperation agreement totalling nearly $143 million in funding from both countries, finance minister Mariama Cire Sylla said.

* The U.S. has been pursuing bilateral deals with Africancountries after dismantling its aid agency last year, cuttingfunding and contracts worldwide. * The memorandum of understanding will mobilize $142.6million over the period 2026-2030, including $91.27 million thatwill be provided by the U.S. and $51.33 million by Guinea, theminister said in a Facebook post on Sunday. * "This partnership will strengthen the fight againstmalaria, accelerate the elimination of polio, modernize ourlaboratories, consolidate human resources in health, and improvethe quality of our health data systems," she said. * Global health advocates have criticised parts of thedeals, including lines in some which ask countries to promptlyshare data with Washington about pathogens that could sparkepidemics in their countries, as a condition of getting thefunding - but without guarantees that countries will have anyaccess to medical tools developed as a result. * The average yearly U.S. funding in the health deal isroughly a third of the aid that flowed to Guinea through USAIDin 2024, according to U.S. government data.