U.S. Provides Additional Assistance to Lebanon to Respond to COVID-19
The United States Embassy is pleased to announce $13,300,000 in new assistance to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 in Lebanon. These funds include $5,300,000 in United States Agency for International Development's International Disaster Assistance for response activities focusing on the most vulnerable Lebanese, including by supporting private health facilities to properly triage, manage, and refer patients; ensure continuity of essential health services; carry out risk communication and community outreach activities; and increase access to water, sanitation, and hygiene activities in health care settings. Also included is $8,000,000 from the State Department's Migration and Refugee Assistance funding for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR, "the UN Refugee Agency"), to support COVID-19 response efforts to help refugees and Lebanese host communities in need.
The new assistance is in addition to existing U.S. assistance, which has been reshaped over the past month through the allocation of nearly $12 million to address Lebanon's emerging pandemic-related needs. This assistance further builds upon the nearly $4.9 billion in bilateral assistance, including more than $187 million in health assistance, that the U.S. government has provided to Lebanon over the last 20 years. USAID, through the American Schools and Hospitals Abroad (ASHA), has invested more than $11 million over the past 10 years to support the construction, rehabilitation, and equipping of medical facilities at the American University of Beirut and Lebanese American University. In addition to the bilateral funding, the U.S. has provided more than $2.3 billion in humanitarian assistance to respond to the Syria crisis in Lebanon.
U.S. Ambassador Dorothy C. Shea said, "The U.S. government is helping to impact people's lives, by helping people on an individual and a societal basis to confront this pandemic. We have been pivoting some of our existing assistance programs to make sure that they are being as responsive as possible to the needs on the ground. We have also been drawing on additional resources from Washington, tailoring that assistance with our trusted partners in Lebanon to help meet emerging needs."
For decades, the United States has been the world's largest provider of bilateral assistance in public health. American taxpayers have generously made available more than $100 billion dollars for health globally since 2009. This money has saved lives, protected people who are most vulnerable to disease, built health institutions, and promoted the stability of communities and nations. Of that figure, USAID has invested over $1.1 billion dollars since 2009 to prevent, detect, and respond to endemic and emerging health threats, including diseases like COVID-19.
Across the globe, USAID is supporting countries affected by COVID-19 by providing high-quality, transparent and meaningful assistance. We are working with multilateral organizations, NGOs, the private sector, and other organizations responding on the ground to combat the dangerous pathogen. This includes working with frontline workers to slow the spread, care for the affected, and equip local communities with the tools needed to fight COVID-19. For details on specific in-country response activities, please contact USAID at press@usaid.gov.
For details on the humanitarian assistance contribution to UNHCR, please contact the State Department's Bureau for Population, Refugees, and Migration at PRM-Press@state.gov.
For more information about novel coronavirus disease COVID-19 from the CDC, please visit: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html
For information on COVID-19 from the United States Embassy in Beirut, please visit: https://lb.usembassy.gov/covid-19-information/
For more information about USAID's response to COVID-19, please visit: https://www.usaid.gov/coronavirus-covid-19
posted by DELTA BLOG at 3:25 AM
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