To date the United States, through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), has provided a total of $24.2 million to support efforts to prevent and respond to the spread of COVID-19 in Pacific island nations. This funding includes support for humanitarian partners, including Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and UN World Food Program (WFP), to help combat COVID-19 in the most vulnerable communities throughout the Pacific region.
Ambassador Cella said, “We are proud to partner with CRS and the WFP to ensure vulnerable people get the support, information and supplies they need. The United States is a world leader in funding to address the effects of this silent and costly killer. We are glad to work with trusted partners to advance livelihoods in the Pacific.”
USAID humanitarian partners are on the ground in Fiji, Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Samoa, Tonga, and Tuvalu to help prevent and respond to the virus, including by distributing hygiene supplies, installing handwashing stations and water tanks at strategic points, and raising awareness about COVID-19 and how to stay healthy.
USAID partner Catholic Relief Services (CRS) is supporting efforts to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the Pacific Island nations of Fiji, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Samoa, and Tonga. With U.S. funding, CRS and their local partner Caritas are disseminating critical information and educational materials about the virus, installing handwashing stations and water tanks at strategic points on the islands, and distributing hygiene kits to help people stay healthy.
With funding from USAID, CARE is working through local organizations who are on the ground in Kiribati, Samoa, and Tuvalu working to disseminate critical information to at-risk communities about the virus and how to stay healthy. CARE is also distributing hygiene supplies and encouraging handwashing and other safe hygiene practices in these island nations to help people protect themselves and others from the virus.
The United States is also funding the UN World Food Program’s (WFP) logistics operation in the Pacific to support response efforts to COVID-19 and other humanitarian crises throughout this vast region of island nations. With this funding, USAID is supporting WFP to airlift critically-needed medical supplies and relief items to areas where commercial flights are limited or unavailable; monitor regional supply chains and coordinate local authorities and aid organizations’ movement of critical goods into and throughout the region; and provide telecommunications services and support to ensure life-saving information can be disseminated even in remote or sparsely-populated areas.