PRESS RELEASE
April 9, 2020
U.S. Support for Indonesia’s Response to COVID-19
JAKARTA – U.S. Chargé d’Affaires, a.i. Heather Variava announced that the U.S. Government, through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), will provide $2.3 million in emergency assistance to Indonesia as part of the United States’ global effort to combat the spread of the COVID-19. This emergency assistance will support ongoing efforts of the Ministry of Health, the Presidential Staff Office (KSP) and Indonesia’s National Disaster Management Authority (BNPB).
“For over 50 years, we have partnered with the Government of Indonesia through USAID and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on pressing health issues, including infectious diseases,” said Variava. “As the Government of Indonesia joins the global fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, we are committing additional emergency funding to support their disease prevention, detection, and response efforts.” The U.S. government is financing this assistance from USAID’s Emergency Reserve Fund for Contagious Infectious Diseases. The U.S. government is providing these funds to multilateral institutions and programs led by USAID implementing partners in individual countries.
The assistance to Indonesia’s COVID-19 response will be put to use immediately to strengthen lab capacity, accelerate testing, and improve disease tracking at the community level. It will also bolster risk communications to provide the public with reliable, verifiable information to keep everyone informed about how to protect themselves and each other.
“Indonesia is ready to work together with other countries in doing collaboration to prevent the spreading of COVID-19, including the U.S. Government to support us in managing COVID-19 pandemic,” said Acep Somantri, Director for International Cooperation Affairs, Ministry of Health, the Republic of Indonesia. This U.S. assistance for the COVID-19 in Indonesia demonstrates the mutual security of the U.S.-Indonesia Strategic Partnership. The U.S. government is committed to working shoulder-to-shoulder with partner countries, including Indonesia, in combating deadly pandemics to ensure health security for everyone.
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, which includes:
- U.S. contributions to WHO in 2019, which exceeded $400 million, almost double the 2nd largest member state contribution.
- U.S. support to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) of nearly $1.7 billion contributed in 2019. This support will be critical going forward, as refugee populations are uniquely vulnerable to the COVID-19 pandemic.
- U.S. contributions to the UN Children’s Fund in 2019 totaled more than $700 million. The life-saving activities UNICEF has been doing for years — such as immunization campaigns and health and sanitation training and assistance — will save lives as we fight this dangerous pathogen.
Because an infectious-disease threat anywhere can become a threat everywhere, the United States calls on other donors to contribute to the global effort to combat COVID-19.
For more information, please visit http://indonesia.usaid.gov/ or contact USAID Communications Officer Swiny Andina at +62 (21) 5083-1000 or jakartadocs@usaid.gov
For more information about the Coronavirus, please visit: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html
For more information about USAID’s response to COVID-19, please visit: https://www.usaid.gov/coronavirus-covid-19
ABOUT USAID
Through results-driven investment, USAID works with the Government of Indonesia, local leaders, the private sector, civil society, and other development partners to strengthen a just and accountable democracy, expand basic services, and enhance mutual security and prosperity. 2019 marks the 70th anniversary of U.S.-Indonesia relations; the U.S. Government is proud to share a long history of partnership with Indonesia and looks forward to further strengthening mutual security, health, and prosperity over the next 70 years and beyond.
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FACTSHEET
RESPONDING TO CORONAVIRUS DISEASE 2019
For decades, the United States has been the world’s largest provider of bilateral assistance in public health. Between USAID and the U.S. Department of State, American taxpayers have generously made available more than $90 billion dollars for health globally since 2009. This money has saved lives, protected people who are most vulnerable to disease, built health institutions and promoted the stability of communities and nations.
Of that figure, USAID has invested over $1.1 billion since 2009 to prevent, detect, and respond to endemic and emerging health threats, including diseases like COVID-19. USAID designs our investments under the Global Health Security Strategy to protect the American public by helping to minimize the spread of disease in affected countries and improve local and global responses to outbreaks of infectious pathogens.
The U.S. government is leading the world’s humanitarian and health assistance response to the COVID19 pandemic. We are mobilizing all necessary resources to respond rapidly, both at home and abroad. As part of this comprehensive and generous U.S. response, the State Department and USAID are providing an initial investment of nearly $274 million in emergency health and humanitarian assistance to help countries in need, on top of the funding we already provide to multilateral organizations such as the World Health Organization and UNICEF. This total to date includes nearly $100 million in emergency health assistance from USAID’s Global Health Emergency Reserve Fund and $110 million in humanitarian assistance from USAID’s International Disaster Assistance account, to be provided for up to 64 of the most at-risk countries facing the threat of this global pandemic.
U.S. government agencies are working together to prioritize foreign assistance based on coordination and the potential for impact. Building on ongoing USAID and other U.S. Government investments to help prepare, detect, and respond to emerging infectious disease threats under the Global Health Security Strategy, the new funding will help address the threat of COVID-19 in Indonesia and other high priority countries (click for full list).
USAID SUPPORT FOR INDONESIA’S OUTBREAK RESPONSE
The United States has invested more than $1 billion in health and more than $5 billion in total assistance to Indonesia over the past 20 years. We have a robust partnership with the Indonesian government in the health sector through USAID and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, including on disease prevention, diagnostics, and capacity building. We are actively working with our Indonesian government counterparts and international partners across the region to assist their efforts to combat the spread of the virus.
With new funds, the United States is providing $2.3 million in health assistance to Indonesia to help the government prepare laboratory systems, activate case-finding and event-based surveillance, support technical experts for response and preparedness, and more.
ONGOING ASSISTANCE
In the past 12 years, USAID has provided substantial assistance to strengthen Indonesia’s capacity in building effective surveillance systems in the animal and human health sectors that can more quickly detect, diagnose and respond to infectious disease threats. USAID assistance has reduced deaths from zoonotic diseases, strengthened policies and put in place better systems and coordination methods to prevent, detect, and respond to pandemic threats. Our assistance has built a stronger health security workforce, including surveillance and laboratory diagnostics and fostered stronger global leadership from Indonesia in the Global Health Security Strategy. Our current assistance will further support Indonesia’s animal and human health laboratory systems to accurately detect key viruses and pathogens to better identify and track priority diseases. USAID will continue to facilitate Indonesia’s implementation of the One Health National Guidelines, which clarify who does what before, during and after an outbreak at the national and local levels. By putting these guidelines into practice, Indonesia will be able to minimize the risks and impacts of future outbreaks.
Further, the USAID Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance (USAID/OFDA), works to build the capability of the Government of Indonesia to address the humanitarian needs of disaster-affected populations and provides technical assistance focused on workforce development to the National Disaster Management Authority, BNPB. At BNPB’s request, the ongoing USAID/OFDA-funded capacity building program is providing training and technical assistance to BNPB to enable a coordinated interagency response to COVID-19.
Individuals and groups who are interested in helping persons affected by, or at risk from, the novel coronavirus should visit the COVID-19 response page of the Center for International Disaster Information at CIDI.org.
