YANGON – The U.S. Government has committed $1.8 million to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 in Myanmar from the Emergency Reserve Fund for Contagious Infectious Diseases at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). USAID is providing these funds to the World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF, and USAID’s “Breakthrough Action” program’s partners, Save the Children and Johns Hopkins University. Of the $1.8 million, USAID is providing $700,000 to WHO to support Myanmar’s COVID-19 readiness and response. USAID is providing UNICEF with $600,000 to support Myanmar’s risk communications. USAID is also providing $500,000 to USAID’s Breakthrough Action program, implemented by the Johns Hopkins Center for Communications Programs and its Myanmar-based partner, Save the Children, to amplify the spread of messaging and materials through Save the Children’s extensive network of local partners in Myanmar. These new activities complement USAID’s donation of 31,500 masks, 1,500 face shields, 1,500 gowns, 1,500 shoe covers, and 1,000 safety goggles to the Ministry of Health and Sports earlier this month to enhance preparedness for potential COVID-19 cases. The United States is also providing technical assistance to the Ministry of Health and Sports from senior U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) epidemiologists. CDC provides technical support for active surveillance to enhance early case detection and to educate the health workforce of Myanmar. CDC is also providing laboratory technical assistance so that Myanmar public health professionals can best utilize the test kits and supplies provided by the Armed Forces Research Institute of Medical Sciences (AFRIMS), a joint U.S.-Thai collaboration, and other donors to Myanmar’s National Health Laboratory. For more information about novel coronavirus disease COVID-19, please visit: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html https://mm.usembassy.gov/covid-19-information/ For more information about USAID’s response to COVID-19, please visit: https://www.usaid.gov/coronavirus-covid-19
U.S. Provides Additional Assistance to Myanmar to Respond to Novel Coronavirus COVID-19
