The U.S. Agency for International Development’s (USAID) COVID-19 Task Force Executive Director Jeremy Konyndyk on Thursday announced more than $91 million to provide urgently needed food assistance, health care, water, and psychosocial support for people across Africa.
Konyndyk said the funding is to address urgent humanitarian needs caused by the devastating COVID-19 pandemic in Burkina Faso, Kenya, Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania, the Democratic. Republic of the Congo, Mozambique, Somalia, Zimbabwe, Sudan and South Sudan.
Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, USAID has provided more than $1 billion in humanitarian assistance to help millions impacted by the virus across the world.
“As communities endure and recover from the pandemic’s impacts, USAID will continue to provide life-saving assistance to meet urgent needs, as well as make investments to prepare for future outbreaks in humanitarian settings,” the agency said in a statement.
The new funding includes:
- $7.5 million for Burkina Faso to provide vital food assistance, protection for children and survivors of gender-based violence by expanding access to basic services, and logistics support to ensure humanitarian assistance and workers reach communities affected by conflict and the COVID-19 pandemic.
- $7.5 million for Burundi, Rwanda, and Tanzania to provide food assistance for refugees, people who have returned to their communities, and other vulnerable community members to recover from the pandemic’s economic impacts.
- $9 million for Chad to provide food assistance, including school meals, for vulnerable people and nutrition assistance to children.
- Nearly $4.7 million for the Democratic Republic of the Congo for protection of vulnerable people, primary healthcare services, and support to strengthen capacity by training health care workers to respond to future disease outbreaks and health emergencies.
- More than $4.4 million for Kenya to provide agriculture and nutrition support, train community health workers, ensure communities have safe water by rehabilitating boreholes, distributing water treatment kits, and providing water to health facilities.
- $5.5 million for Mozambique to provide critical food and nutrition assistance, protection for women and children, as well as water, sanitation, and hygiene services to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and water-borne diseases.
- $14.7 million for Somalia to improve access to lifesaving health care services, treat acutely malnourished women and children, deliver safe drinking water and hygiene supplies, and provide emergency psychosocial support for survivors of gender-based violence.
- Approximately $30 million for South Sudan to provide critical primary health care, health education, and training for health workers, as well as support for critical logistics, shelter, water, sanitation, and hygiene supplies, among other assistance.
- More than $3 million for Sudan to support risk communication and community engagement, provide vital hygiene supplies and personal protective equipment, and respond to gender-based violence.
- $4.6 million for Zimbabwe to provide food assistance to the most vulnerable rural communities to help build long-term resilience, following lockdowns that have curbed economic opportunities.
Simon Ateba is Chief White House Correspondent for Today News Africa. Simon covers President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, the U.S. government, the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and other financial and international institutions in Washington D.C. and New York City.
