U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Office of the Spokesperson
Fact Sheet
May 19, 2020
UPDATE: The United States Continues to Lead the Global Response to COVID-19
Through the American people’s generosity and the U.S. Government’s action, the United States continues to demonstrate global leadership in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. The American people have given more than $10 billion that will benefit the global COVID-19 response, and we continue to ensure that the substantial U.S. funding and scientific efforts on this front remain a central and coordinated part of the worldwide effort against COVID-19. Months into fighting this pandemic at home and abroad, the United States continues to lead a global response—building on decades of leadership in life-saving health and humanitarian assistance.
Since the outbreak of COVID-19, the U.S. Government has committed more than $900 million in State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) emergency health, humanitarian, economic, and development assistance specifically aimed at helping governments, international organizations, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) fight the pandemic. This funding, provided by Congress, will save lives by improving public health education; protecting healthcare facilities; and increasing laboratory, disease-surveillance, and rapid-response capacity in more than 120 countries.
The United States has mobilized as a nation to make this an impressive global effort. Working with the private sector, we have begun to fulfill President Trump’s commitment to provide ventilators to our partners and allies in Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. The first shipment of ventilators donated by the United States, through USAID, arrived in the Republic of South Africa on May 11, 2020. Our foreign assistance funding to date for the response to the COVID-19 pandemic includes an initial $23 million specifically to provide ventilators to some of these partners and allies. We expect to make future additional purchases and shipments of ventilators and related supplies.
The COVID-19 assistance to-date from the State Department and USAID includes the following:
- Nearly $300 million in emergency health assistance from USAID’s Global Health Emergency Reserve Fund for Contagious Infectious-Disease Outbreaks and Global Health Programs account. These funds prioritize interventions to mitigate the pandemic and prepare communities in developing countries affected and at-risk of COVID-19.
- Nearly $300 million in humanitarian assistance from USAID’s International Disaster Assistance (IDA) account. This assistance supports case management and keeps essential health services operating; provides risk communication and community engagement programs; supports infection, prevention, and control efforts; provides safe water and hygiene items; and strengthens local capacity and coordination by working with existing health structures and with others in the humanitarian community. These funds prioritize populations affected by ongoing humanitarian crises, particularly displaced people, because of their heightened vulnerability, the elevated risk of severe outbreaks in camps and informal settlements, and anticipated disproportionate mortality in these populations.
- More than $150 million from the Economic Support Fund (ESF) account. These funds promote American foreign-policy interests by financing shorter-term mitigation efforts and addressing the second-order impacts of the pandemic in the long term, across a variety of sectors.
- Nearly $160 million in humanitarian assistance from the Migration and Refugee Assistance (MRA) account, provided through the State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration. These funds help international organizations and NGO partners address challenges posed by the pandemic in refugee, IDP, and host communities as well as other among migrants and other vulnerable people.
This assistance from the State Department and USAID does not include hundreds of millions more being provided by other U.S. Government Departments and Agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Department of Defense (DoD). New COVID-19 foreign assistance is provided in addition to the more than $100 billion in global health funding and nearly $70 billion in overseas humanitarian assistance provided by the United States in the last decade alone.
In addition to this direct funding from the U.S. Government, our All-of-America approach is helping people around the world through the generosity of American private businesses, non-profit groups, charitable organizations, faith-based organizations, and individuals, who have now provided more than $4.3 billion in donations and assistance globally, more than any other nation.
To meet the most urgent needs, U.S. Government Departments and Agencies are coordinating efforts to prioritize foreign assistance to maximize the potential for impact. The United States is providing the following assistance through the State Department and USAID:
- Indonesia: $11 million includes more than $9 million in health and IDA humanitarian assistance to help the Indonesian Government prepare laboratory systems, activate case-finding and event-based surveillance, support technical experts for response and preparedness, and more. It also includes nearly $1.5 million in MRA humanitarian assistance for refugees, vulnerable migrants, and their host communities. The U.S. Government has invested more than $5 billion in total assistance over the past 20 years, including more than $1 billion for health.
