Washington, D.C., May 15, 2020 (PAHO)—The Government of Japan has agreed to contribute over US $2.7 million to help nine countries in the Americas – namely Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, and Venezuela - scale up their response to the novel coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic.
The financial contribution from Japan will support the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO)’s critical response efforts deployed in those countries to mitigate the impact of the spread of virus and slow down the human-to-human transmission of COVID-19 in the Americas.
Under the agreement just signed between PAHO and the Government of Japan, the funding will be used in the nine beneficiary countries to strengthen their capacities to detect cases, monitor them, and control outbreaks of COVID-19.
The project also aims to augment their national health systems ability to care for COVID-19 patients and protect vulnerable individuals, and to ensure that reliable public health information on the COVID-19 outbreak and protective measures is made available to people involved in the response, as well as the general population.
Japan’s contribution of US$ 2,7 million will be available for nine months and work is starting immediately, according to Dr. Ciro Ugarte, who heads PAHO’s Health Emergencies Department.
“We are grateful to the Government of Japan for helping our countries combat the serious COVID-19 pandemic challenges they are facing. This will enable them to strengthen their readiness and response operations to save lives and protect the most vulnerable individuals, including healthcare workers, and to reduce the transmission of the virus among individuals, in an effort to slow the spread of the disease,” Ugarte said.
Japan’s donation will contribute to the US$94.8 million needed through August 2020 to support individual countries and territories in the region of the Americas to combat the Covid-19 pandemic. The response strategy has two main objectives: to stop the transmission of the virus and to mitigate the health impact of COVID-19 in the region.
PAHO, as the specialized health agency in the Americas and the Regional Office of the World Health Organization, is providing critical leadership, coordination and assistance to fight the spread of COVID-19, save lives, and protect the most vulnerable peoples in all 52 countries and territories of the Americas.
