A staff member conducts COVID-19 prevention awareness in South Sudan. PHOTO//Unicef -South Sudan

The United States has announced additional funds to support South Sudan’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.

The nearly $48 million is built on the U.S continued investment in life-saving health and humanitarian assistance in the country.

In April, the U.S. government gave $8 million to South Sudan to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.

According to the State Department, the new funding will help save lives by improving public health education; protecting healthcare facilities, and increasing laboratory, disease-surveillance, and rapid-response capacity.

The assistance includes $35.2 million for case management, prevention and control of infections, logistics, coordination efforts, risk communications, water, sanitation and hygiene, and emergency food assistance.

More than $10 million in humanitarian assistance will be directed to supporting refugees and host communities in South Sudan during the pandemic. 

It also provides $2.8 million in health programming.

The State Department further directed that the health assistance will fund expanded training of health workers and peer educators on proper practices to prevent and control infections in health facilities to protect communities and patients.

“…particularly those at high risk or who are immunocompromised,” the statement read.

It is also expected to strengthen the capabilities of health facilities and communities to manage and refer cases of COVID-19. 

A statement issued August 21, stated that the health assistance will further fund expanding efforts to address community concerns, including by tracking and combating rumours, misconceptions, and grievances. 

“This funding builds upon past U.S. investments in South Sudan that total $6.4 billion over the past 20 years, including more than $405 million for health,” it emphasized.

The Office of the Spokesperson at the State Department noted that this new coronavirus foreign assistance makes South Sudan the largest receiver of US global response since the pandemic first hit.

More than 100 billion US dollars in global health funding and nearly $70 billion in overseas humanitarian assistance provided by the United States in the last decade alone.

The funds are being channelled through the State Department and USAID.

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, the United States has affirmed that it has given more than $1.6 billion in State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) emergency health, humanitarian, economic, and development assistance aimed at helping governments, international organizations, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) fight the pandemic.

So far, the U.S. Government said it has allocated $20.5 billion for the development of vaccines and therapeutics, preparedness efforts, and other foreign assistance.

“Our global efforts build upon decades of U.S. investment in life-saving health and humanitarian assistance, and we continue to ensure that the substantial U.S. funding and scientific efforts remain a central and coordinated part of the worldwide effort against this deadly virus,” it noted.

These new amounts, however, do not include assistance being provided by other USG Departments and Agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Department of Defense (DoD).