AMMAN (April 23) – The United States Government is providing $8,000,000 to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 in Jordan. These funds include $6.5 million in humanitarian assistance from the State Department Migration and Refugee Assistance (MRA) account to support COVID-19 response efforts to help refugees in Jordan. This includes health assistance, additional hours of electricity in camps to support remote education, and short-term cash assistance to refugees outside of camps for basic needs such as shelter, water, and utilities. The funding also support those who have lost their source of livelihoods due to COVID-19 prevention closures. They also include $1.5 million in health assistance from USAID, which will support laboratory strengthening for large-scale testing of COVID-19 and capacity building to improve case management protocol and systems. The United States also is spearheading coordination of donor support to the Government of Jordan, ensuring that critical life-saving assistance is prioritized now and as the threat evolves.
The U.S. Chargé d’Affaires Karen Sasahara said, “Jordan is a close friend and invaluable ally. We are working together to prevent and treat infectious diseases at their source and to minimize their global impact. The U.S.-Jordan partnership is critical to the rapid and effective response to emerging threats, including the current COVID-19 outbreak. We salute the King’s leadership and the efforts of the Jordanian government.”
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. Support in Jordan includes the improvement of the quality of care in more than 140 health facilities, reaching 70 percent of the population; the Princess Rahma Pediatric Hospital Expansion, increasing its capacity by 35 percent; and the soon to be completed modern emergency department at Al Bashir Hospital in Amman, Jordan’s largest public hospital serving 50,000 patients a month. These U.S. investments, which in the last 20 years alone total more than $18.9 billion, include more than $1.8 billion in Jordan’s health sector, better preparing the Jordanian government and people to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The U.S. Government is leading the world’s humanitarian and health response to the COVID-19 pandemic even while we battle the virus at home. As part of this comprehensive and generous response from the American people, USAID have now committed nearly $508 million in emergency health, humanitarian, and economic assistance on top of the funding we already
provide to multilateral and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that are helping communities around the world deal with the pandemic. This funding will support critical activities to control the spread of this disease, such as rapid public-health information campaigns, water and sanitation, and preventing and controlling infections in health-care facilities.
For more information about novel coronavirus disease COVID-19 from the CDC, please visit: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html
For more information on COVID-19 from the U.S. Embassy in Jordan, please visit: https://jo.usembassy.gov/covid-19-information/
For more information about USAID’s response to COVID-19, please visit: https://www.usaid.gov/coronavirus-covid-19
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