The United States government has pledged to commit an additional 230 billion Kwacha to the Zambian government to respond fight against covid-19 pandemic.
In a statement made available to the media in Lusaka yesterday, United States of America Public affairs Officer Sean Mclntosh said that the US government has continued to demonstrate its global leadership in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic to respond to the threat worldwide.
Since the start of the pandemic in Zambia, the U.S. government, through the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Department of Defense, the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), has provided over five hundred million kwacha K500 million in support of Zambia’s efforts to combat COVID-19.
“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.
He stated that the US government Support Vaccinations, through USAID and CDC, and has further committed funding and critical technical and logistical support to the Ministry of Health to assist with planning, coordination, and delivery of safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines for Zambians.
The US Government has established and Strengthened Testing Capacity for COVID-19 in Zambia using the infrastructure and other testing commodities to enable accurate COVID-19 results and high levels of testing throughout the pandemic.
Mr Mclntosh further said that the Us government has supported for influenza surveillance and HIV and tuberculosis testing at the University Teaching Hospital (UTH) and Tropical Disease Research Center, CDC and USAID have provided technical assistance, quality controls, reagents including empowering Health Care Workers.
He further said that the US government In partnership with the Ministry of Health, USAID, CDC, and DOD supported and trained health care workers to treat COVID-19, provided personal protective equipment to keep them safe, and assisted with temporary human resource surge capacity.
]Mr Mclntosh said through PEPFAR, the U.S. government worked with the Ministry of Health to establish systems allowing people living with HIV to collect six months of antiretroviral drugs at once, limiting their potential exposure to COVID-19.
“the U.S. government helped Strengthen Surveillance Capacity and establish a functional call center 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,” He said.
He further said that the U.S. government is helping to strengthen the field epidemiology capacity and outbreak response and surveillance system at district and provincial levels.
Through USAID, the U.S. government has increased the resilience and preparedness of local government authorities, supporting a national center of experts that customized USAID pandemic guidance and best practices for Zambian conditions, provided on-call support to district officials across the nation, and funded outreach programs .
Misleading statement, the USA will certainly NOT commit a massive US $10B to Zambia’s Covid fight. That money would be corruptly “eaten” by PF thieves.
Foreign debts ,foreign Chinese contractors and foreign aid is all Zambia does now? Zambia’s Covid fight fought by USA and made in USA .
Please Americans, give vaccines not money – otherwise the latter will likely grow wings.
Mmmmm……some countries are so rich. Being the most affected by corona on the planet but still able to give out so much money?
ACCORDING TO MIN OF HEALTH AND GOVRNMENT WE DONT HAVE COVID SO WHAT IS THIS REALLY ABOUT ?? ELECTION MONEY OR ???
HOW ARE WE EVER GOING TO MOVE FORWARD AND STAND ON OUR FEET WITH THESE 1ST WORLD COUNTRIES DISHING FUNDS OUT TO NON DESERVING COUNTRIES IN AFRICA AND ELSE WHERE ………..
LEAVE US ALONE TO SORT OUT OUR OWN MESS WHICH WE CAPABLE OF IF LEFT ALONE
OR IS IT WE MUST STAY A 3RD OR 4TH WORLD COUNTRY FOREVER ??????????
Zambians leaders have no shame at all….US has been singlehandedly funding the AIDS Program for decades the Zambian leaders can even feel ashamed and say no please reduce funding we can stand on our own two feet. When People praised leaders like Mugufuli it not because of his governance style but because he had pride and a belief that his country can prosper with relying on debt and aid…he knew Africa was rich bad is sadly archored down by bad corrupt l azy leaders.
Bwana Mkubwa will be developed at this rate and Jonas Chanda will be a billionaire like Chilufya at this rate.
Zambia will spend more than $10 million per vaccine, scandal rooming before elections.
The corrupt PF will be laughing their heads off: they didn’t even ask for the money, and now – four months before the elections – the US is giving them the biggest Christmas present ever! How stupid can you get…….
Why usa giving Zambia so much?
What is it they want?
Leaving out other African countries?
Failing to understand the logic?
Something Fishy?
ITS USA VS CHINA VS INDIA
WHY CAN NOBODY SEE THE STRUGGLE FOR DOMINATION BETWEEN EAST AND WEST IN AFRICA
After the pandemic broke, many countries came forward to help Zambia. This was only because of good relations with President Lungu.
The developed country help Zambia and distributed funds. Soon, our country will also become financially strong and that time we will help other countries during their crisis. Amen!
The nation surely has maintained its reputation internationally! We must thank President Lungu for this.
The majority of Zambians know what to do in the elections. Throw HH out of the race, we don’t want a person with criminal background to be the face of Zambia.
And, I think the President Lungu administration has managed to evenly distribute the received funds among Zambians through several schemes.
Thank God, our government is not corrupt or money eater like Hichilema, or else this help would have never reached Zambians. The country is in the safest hands.
Other country’s President can trust President Lungu with money. But, not a few handfuls of supporters of HH. What an irony.
Even if something good happens in Zambia, a few handfuls of dull people still criticize the government for no reason…????? Wonder, why they are so afraid of President Lungu.
This is indeed a great move by the USA!
Where is the US getting the money…?
Thank for reporting in Kwacha for once. We need our news papers to report our currency in Kwacha. If you want then you can explain the foregn currency equivalent. Our currency is primarily Kwacha and thus all quotes need to be in Kwacha. We know we need foreign currency to purchaes foreign goods but that does not mean we must quote those prices in forein currency in Zambia.