On the heels of a $100m pledge to Guyana, the United States yesterday committed an additional US$1.7 million ($357m) to mitigate the spread of the COVID-19 outbreak in Guyana and the rest of the Caribbean.
A statement from the US Embassy here said that the US, via USAID, is providing life-saving support by working with the Government of Guyana, international humanitarian partners, and other stakeholders to identify priority areas for investment.
“The United States Government is committed to assisting the people of Guyana to combat the spread of COVID-19 to prevent illness and deaths associated with the dreaded pandemic and ultimately improve the quality of life and the economic outcomes of this wonderful country and its people” said US Ambassador to Guyana, Sarah-Ann Lynch. Through this assistance, the statement said that USAID will support:
▪ Infection prevention and control in health-care facilities.
▪ Communications to help educate people on steps they can take to prevent and respond to the spread of the virus, through country-specific media campaigns.
▪ Surveillance and rapid response with case-finding and event-based surveillance for COVID-19. The statement said that USAID also helps countries train and support rapid-response teams to probe cases and conduct contact tracing.
The statement said that the United States Government has contributed substantially to improving the healthcare services, systems and infrastructure here with an emphasis on HIV/AIDS, Malaria, Cervical Cancer and Zika infections. It said that support through USAID and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) resulted in Guyana being the first country in the region to attain the 1st pillar in the goal to achieve epidemic control of HIV; by diagnosing at least 90% of those persons estimated to be living with the virus.
On April 23, the US Embassy here announced that as part of the ongoing commitment to Guyana through the U.S. Caribbean Resiliency Partnership, the Regional Caribbean Office of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was releasing US$475,000 to help address Guyana’s priority areas of laboratory diagnostics and systems strengthening and supplies, surveillance, infection prevention & control, and emergency operation centres.
It said that the CDC will coordinate with Guyana’s Ministry of Public Health and its regional partners to disburse these funds rapidly and implement the activities.
