Kingston – The United States Government has committed J$95 million (US$700,000) to mitigate the spread of the COVID-19 outbreak in Jamaica. These funds will go directly towardJamaica’s emergency response. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) intends to provide these funds to meet the COVID-19 response needs of the Government of Jamaica.

The United States, via USAID, is coordinating with the Government of Jamaica, international humanitarian partners, and other stakeholders to identify priority areas for investment.

U.S. Ambassador to Jamaica, Donald Tapia states, “To date, the Government of Jamaica has done a commendable job at addressing the spread of COVID-19 in country. These funds will directly support emergency response activities that are vital for helping to #flattenthecurve here in Jamaica.”

With these emergency response resources, USAID will seek opportunities to support:

• Case management to strengthen clinical care while minimizing the risk of onwards transmission to others.
• Infection prevention and control in health-care facilities.
• Laboratory strengthening to prepare laboratory systems for large-scale testing of COVID-19.
• 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 to enhance with case-finding and event-based surveillance for COVID-19.

This assistance builds upon U.S. investments of nearly US$87 million in health and nearly US$619 million total over the past 20 years for Jamaica.

For decades, the United States has been the world's largest provider of bilateral assistance in public health. Since 2009, American taxpayers have generously made available more than $100 billion dollars in health assistance and nearly $70 billion in humanitarian assistance globally.

This generosity is underscored by our contributions to several crucial multilateral partners. U.S. contributions to the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2019 exceeded $400 million, almost double the second-largest member state’s contribution.U.S. support to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) is unmatched with nearly $1.7 billion contributed in 2019, because refugee populations are uniquely vulnerable to the COVID-19 pandemic. Support for the lifesaving activities of UNICEF has been an American priority for nearly 75 years, and U.S. contributions in 2019 totaled more than $700 million. Because an infectious-disease threat anywhere can be a threat everywhere, the United States calls on other donors to contribute to the global effort to combat COVID-19.

For more information about USAID’s response to COVID-19, please visit: https://www.usaid.gov/coronavirus.