Washington sources stated that the united states on friday announced $174 million financial assistance to 64 countries including $2.9 million to india to help them fight the coronavirus pandemic. This is in addition to the $100 million aid announced by the US in February. The newly announced assistance is part of a larger American global response package across multiple departments and agencies, including the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The funding is for 64 of the most at-risk countries facing the threat of the global pandemic.
The US State Department said it is providing $2.9million to help the indian government prepare laboratory systems, activate case finding and event-based surveillance, and support technical experts for response and preparedness, and more. The State Department said "This builds upon the foundation of more than$1.4 billion in health assistance out of the more than $2.8 billion in US assistance for india over the last 20 years". According to united states Agency for international Development (USAID) Deputy Administrator Bonnie Glick, the new assistance builds on the U' record of global health leadership.
In south Asia, the State Department is providing$1 million in health funding to help it strengthen monitoring and better prepare communities to identify potential outbreaks. To bolster its national COVID-19 action plan, the united states has also redirected more than $1million in existing funding for training of healthcare providers and other urgent needs. It is providing $1.3 million to sri lanka, $1.8million to nepal, $3.4 million to bangladesh and$5 million to afghanistan to help them fight the pandemic.
