The government of the United States of America has supported Nigeria with $21 million to prevent and mitigate COVID-19.
A statement by the US embassy in Abuja, Thursday, said the intervention was carried out through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and Department of State.
The mission said out of the total amount, nearly $18 million will go into humanitarian assistance for Internally Displaced persons (IDPs) and their host communities, risk communication, water and sanitation activities, infection prevention, and coordination.
The mission stated that USAID had earlier assisted Nigeria by collaborating with Nigerian Centre for Disease Control in sending one million SMS messages daily to Nigerians and going door-to-door in the Northeast to prevent outbreaks.
“The U.S. government is leading the world’s humanitarian and health response to the COVID-19 pandemic even while we battle the virus at home. Our assistance is rolling out gradually as we reconfigure priorities in response to the evolving situation, ” the mission quoted US ambassador to Nigeria, Mary Beth Leonard, as saying.
The intervention joins more than $8.1 billion in total assistance for Nigeria over the past 20 years, including more than $5.2 billion in health sector alone.
Worldwide, the US has now committed nearly $508 million in emergency health, humanitarian, and economic assistance over COVID-19.
This is apart from its supports for Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs).
