Update: United States is Continuing to Lead Response to COVID-19

Through the American people’s generosity and the U.S. government’s action, the United States continues to demonstrate global leadership in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. Months into fighting this pandemic at home and abroad, the United States remains the largest single country donor to the response efforts globally, building on decades of leadership in life-saving health and humanitarian assistance.

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, the U.S. Government has committed more than $775 million in emergency health, humanitarian, economic and development assistance specifically aimed at helping governments, international organizations, and NGOs fight the pandemic. This funding, provided by Congress, will save lives by improving public health education, protecting healthcare facilities, and increasing laboratory, disease-surveillance, and rapid-response capacity in more than 120 countries.

The COVID-19 assistance to-date from the State Department and USAID includes:

• Nearly $200 million in emergency health assistance from USAID’s Global Health Emergency Reserve Fund for Contagious Infectious-Disease Outbreaks and Global Health Programs account. These funds prioritized interventions to mitigate and prepare communities in developing countries affected and at-risk of COVID-19.
• Nearly $300 million in humanitarian assistance from USAID’s International Disaster Assistance (IDA) account. These funds prioritize populations affected by ongoing humanitarian crises, particularly displaced people, because of their heightened vulnerability, the elevated risk of severe outbreaks in camps and informal settlements and anticipated disproportionate mortality in these populations.
• More than $150 million from the Economic Support Fund (ESF). These funds will promote American foreign policy interests by supporting shorter-term mitigation efforts and addressing second-order impacts from the pandemic in the long term, across a variety of sectors.
• More than $130 million in humanitarian assistance from the Migration and Refugee Assistance (MRA) account, provided through the State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration. These funds will help international organization and NGO partners address challenges posed by the pandemic in refugee, IDP, and hosting communities as well as other migrants and other vulnerable people in both global and local humanitarian responses.

This new assistance is in addition to the more than $100 billion in global health funding and nearly $70 billion in overseas humanitarian assistance provided by the United States in the last decade alone.

In addition to this direct U.S. government funding, our All-of-America approach is helping people around the world through the generosity of American private businesses, nonprofit groups, charitable organizations, faith-based organizations, and individuals. Together, Americans have committed an estimated nearly $6.5 billion in government and non-government donations and assistance in the global COVID-19 response.

In order to meet the most urgent needs, U.S. government departments and agencies are coordinating efforts to prioritize foreign assistance to maximize the potential for impact. The United States is providing the following assistance through the State Department and USAID:

Africa:

• Angola: $570,000 for health assistance is helping provide risk-communications and water and sanitation, and prevent and control infections in key health facilities in Angola. This assistance comes on top of long-term U.S. investments in Angola, which total $1.48 billion over the past 20 years, including $613 million for health assistance.
• Botswana: $1.5 million in health assistance to address the outbreak. This assistance builds on nearly $1.2 billion in total assistance in Botswana over the last 20 years, $1.1 billion of which was for health.
• Burkina Faso: Nearly $7 million in health and humanitarian funding will go toward risk-communications, water and sanitation, preventing and controlling infections in health facilities, public-health messaging, and more. This includes $2.5 million in health assistance, $1.5 million in IDA humanitarian assistance, and nearly $2.8 million in MRA humanitarian assistance, which will help protect the health of vulnerable people in Burkina Faso during the pandemic. Over the past 20 years, the United States has invested more than $2.4 billion total in Burkina Faso, $222 million for health alone.
• Burundi: More than $1 million in MRA humanitarian assistance will help protect the health of vulnerable people. The United States has invested more than $997 million in total assistance for Burundi, including more than $254 million in health assistance, over the past 20 years.
• Cameroon: Nearly $8 million for health and humanitarian assistance will help provide infection-control in key health facilities, strengthen laboratories and surveillance, prepare communities, and bolster local messaging. This includes $6.1 million for health and IDA humanitarian assistance from USAID, in addition to nearly $1.9 million in MRA humanitarian assistance to support refugees, internally displaced persons (IDPs), and their host communities. This assistance builds upon more than $960 million in total U.S. investment in the country over the past 20 years, $390 million of which was for health.
• Central African Republic: More than $10 million in humanitarian assistance, including $6.5 million in IDA humanitarian assistance that will go toward risk-communications, preventing and controlling infections for health facilities, and safe water supplies, and more than $3.5 million in MRA humanitarian assistance that will help protect the health of vulnerable people in the Central African Republic during the pandemic. The U.S. Government has provided $822.6 million in total in the Central African Republic over the last 20 years, including $4.5 million in emergency health assistance in FY 2019.
• Republic of Congo (ROC): $250,000 in health assistance will address the outbreak. The United States has invested in the Republic of Congo for decades, with more than $171.2 million in total U.S. assistance for the ROC over the last 20 years, $36.8 million of which was for health.
• Chad: More than $3.5 million in humanitarian assistance, including $1 million from the IDA account for preventing and controlling infections for health facilities, raising community awareness of COVID-19, and improving hygiene, and nearly $2.6 million in MRA humanitarian assistance to help protect the health of vulnerable people in Chad during the pandemic. This new assistance builds upon the foundation of nearly $2 billion in total U.S. assistance over the last 20 years, including more than $30 million for health.
• Côte d’Ivoire: $1.6 million in health assistance to address the outbreak. Over the past 20 years, the United States has invested more than $2.1 billion in long-term development and other assistance in Côte d’Ivoire.
• Democratic Republic of the Congo: More than $26 million, including $16 million in health and IDA humanitarian assistance that will improve the prevention and control of infections for health facilities, and support improved awareness of COVID-19, including by working with religious leaders and journalists on risk-communication messaging. More than $5 million in MRA humanitarian assistance will help protect vulnerable people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo during the pandemic. Finally, approximately $5 million in ESF will go toward distance education and alternative education for Congolese children and youth so they can continue to learn and maintain protective routines and social connections while schools are closed across the country. This builds upon more than $6.3 billion in total U.S. assistance over the past 20 years, including more than $1.5 billion for health.
• Djibouti: $500,000 in health assistance to address the outbreak. The United States has already invested more than $338 million total in Djibouti over the last 20 years.
• Eswatini: $750,000 in health assistance to address the outbreak. Funds will go to bolstering Eswatini’s emergency health response, which could include the procurement of supplies, contact-tracing, laboratory diagnostics, and raising public awareness. This assistance builds upon the foundation of U.S. government investments in the Kingdom, which total more than $529 million in total assistance over the last 20 years, including more than $490 million for health.
• Ethiopia: More than $20.5 million in assistance to counter COVID-19, including more than $10.9 million for health and IDA humanitarian assistance for risk-communications, the prevention and control of infections for health facilities, disease-surveillance, contact-tracing, and coordination; $7 million in ESF that will support continued operations in a major industrial park, to preserve more than 135,000 jobs; and nearly $2.7 million in MRA humanitarian assistance for vulnerable people. This assistance is in addition to the United States’ long-term investments in Ethiopia of more than $13 billion in total assistance, nearly $4 billion for health alone, over the past 20 years.
• Ghana: $1.6 million in health assistance to address the outbreak. This new assistance builds upon $3.8 billion in total U.S. Government investments to Ghana over the last 20 years, including nearly $914 million for health.
• Guinea: $500,000 in health assistance to address the outbreak. The United States has invested nearly $1 billion in total assistance for Guinea over the last 20 years, including $365.5 million for health.