US pits $37m against coronavirus in Nigeria, others

Donald Trump, President, USA

The United States of America has announced a commitment of $37m in financing from the Emergency Reserve Fund for Contagious Infectious Diseases at the US Agency for International Development (USAID) for 26 countries affected by novel coronavirus COVID-19 or at high risk of its spread.

The US is providing these funds to the World Health Organization, other multilateral institutions, and programs led by USAID's implementing partners. These are the first US funds committed from the pledge of up to $100m announced by the US Department of State on February 7, 2020.

Building on ongoing USAID and other US Government investments to help prepare and respond to infectious diseases under the Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA), the new funding will help address the threat of COVID-19 in the following high priority countries: Afghanistan, Angola, Indonesia, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Kenya, South Africa, Tajikistan, The Philippines, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Bangladesh, Burma, Cambodia, Ethiopia, Kyrgyz, Lao, Mongolia, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Thailand and Vietnam.