The United States is the leading humanitarian and health donor in the world responding to the CCP virus pandemic, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said.
According Pompeo, the United States has allocated $274 million in assistance to help 64 of the most at-risk countries to battle the pandemic.
The vulnerable countries include Afghanistan, Angola, Indonesia, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Kenya, South Africa, Tajikistan, the Philippines, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Bangladesh, Burma, Cambodia, Ethiopia, the Kyrgyz Republic, Laos, Mongolia, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Thailand, and Vietnam, according to the State Department.
“I am pleased to announce that the United States has made available nearly $274 million in emergency health and humanitarian funding,” Pompeo said on Thursday.
“These new pledges include nearly $100 million in emergency health assistance. It also now includes $110 million in new international disaster assistance, which together with our emergency health funding, will be provided for up to 64 of the most at-risk countries.”
An additional $64 million was allocated to the U.N. High Commissioner for refugees to help some of the world’s most vulnerable people threatened by the virus.
Pompeo also noted that on March 6, President Donald Trump signed the Coronavirus Preparedness and Response Supplemental Appropriations Act that includes an additional $1.3 billion in foreign assistance to help countries respond to the pandemic.
Since 2009, American taxpayers have funded more than $100 billion in health assistance and $70 billion in humanitarian assistance.
James Richardson, a director of U.S. Foreign Assistance Resources at the U.S. Agency for International Development, said that the United States “contributes close to 40 percent of the world’s global health assistance every year, nearly five times larger than the next donor, which is the UK, and 30 percent of the world’s humanitarian assistance.”
