US provides $22 Million to fight Covid-19

The United States has provided over $22 million to complement Bangladesh’s ongoing efforts to prepare and respond to the spread of the novel coronavirus disease (Covid-19). 

The funding came through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), according to the US embassy in Dhaka.

This funding builds on the more than $1 billion health assistance provided to Bangladesh over the past 20 years and underscores the long-term US commitment to ensuring access to quality, life-saving health services for all people in Bangladesh, it said on Thursday.

In Bangladesh, the US is supporting the country’s Covid-19 readiness and response in the following areas:  strengthening diagnostic and laboratory capacity; increasing case management and infection prevention and control practices; improving supply chain and logistics management systems, and enhancing risk communication messages to increase knowledge and dispel myths and misconceptions.  

An online training course on Covid-19 for Bangladeshi doctors, jointly organized by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) and USAID, was launched on Thursday with US funding and cooperation.

The course provides doctors with useful information on Covid-19, including how to deal with it as a health professional while ensuring one’s own protection and safety, and can be accessed for free by doctors anywhere in Bangladesh through the government’s e-learning platform Muktopaath.  The activity is implemented by Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Communication Programs, and the online platform is managed by Access to Information (a2i), a cabinet division under the Bangladesh Government’s ICT division that supports the government’s Digital Bangladesh agenda.

Speaking on the occasion, US ambassador to Bangladesh Earl Miller said, “Ramadan reminds us to think about and thank the front-line workers confronting this crisis.  They perform remarkable acts of service every day – health care workers, police, people who work in grocery stores and pharmacies and other businesses, so we have what we need to care for ourselves and our families.”

“I would add journalists.  You provide what any vibrant democracy needs, especially in times of crisis – objective information, facts and the truth.  The work of journalists, photojournalists, and media outlets often comes with sacrifice, including here in Bangladesh …You are all genuine heroes … You deserve our immense gratitude,” he said.