American Government Pledge 230 Billion Kwacha To Zambian COVID-19 Response

The Government of the United States has pledged to commit an additional 230 billion Kwacha to help the country’s fight against Covid-19.

In a statement made yesterday, U.S. Public Affairs Officer Sean McIntosh praised his government for continuing to demonstrate global leadership to help fight COVID-19 across the world.

“The U.S. government agencies work directly with the Zambian government and other partners across health, education and other sectors to protect public health and save lives” Mr McIntosh said.

Since the pandemic started in Zambia, the U.S. government have provided over 500 million Kwacha in support of Zambia’s efforts to combat COVID-19. These funds have come from organisations including the U.S. Agency for International Development and the U.S. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.

This support to Zambia has come in the form of logistical backing, strengthening testing capacity, training healthcare workers as well as providing them with personal protective equipment.

To add to this, McIntosh said “the U.S. government helped Strengthen Surveillance Capacity and establish a functional call centre at the Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit, develop standard operating procedures and guidance on screening, testing and isolation of persons with suspected COVID-19 infection, and supported contact tracing, home-based care, and quarantine procedures”.  

The help which the U.S. have provided the country with has been of paramount importance in fighting the virus within Zambia, especially given the fact that the Zambian government is one of the last in African to begin the vaccine rollout, in spite of being in the top 11 countries with the highest number of COVID-19 cases in Africa.

Photo: The Mast