The United States may now be among the worst-hit countries as the novel coronavirus 19 (Covid-19) pandemic stalks the world, but it’s sending a signal it’s not forgetting friends in the crisis.
The Philippines stands to get nearly $4 million in aid under an assistance package announced by the United States for Southeast Asia, now engaged in an uphill battle to stop the spread of the deadly respiratory virus. The technical and financial assistance, initially with a total worth of $18.3 million, was allotted by the US as a form of emergency support to the region against the Covid-19, as announced by the US State Department.
“The United States has been and will always continue to be the world’s largest humanitarian assistance provider. I mean, this is something that’s in our tradition. It’s—you can look at the math. It is unambiguous,” said US State Department Secretary Mike Pompeo in a telephonic briefing with Southeast Asian journalists.
“Whether that is direct bilateral assistance to countries, or whether that is our role in the United Nations, or the World Health Organization, or any of the other multilateral organizations, it is, in fact, the United States that leads the way. I am very confident that that will also be the truth with respect to Covid-19,” he added.
US cares
Under the package, the Philippines will get nearly $4 million in health assistance that will help officials “prepare laboratory systems, activate case-finding and event-based surveillance,” according to a statement from the State Department, released by the US Embassy in Manila.
The aid will also fund and support technical experts for response and preparedness, risk communication, infection prevention and control, among others.
According to the US, it has already invested more than $582 million in the area of health alone, which is part of the nearly $4.5 billion in total assistance to the country over the past 20 years.
The assistance was announced as the Department of Defense’s Defense Threat Reduction Agency has provided locally sourced personal protective equipment, training exercises, laboratory equipment and materials in the fight against the coronavirus.
“We care about these people, we want to support them. We want to reduce the risk to their people and to their countries,” Pompeo said of the support to the Philippines and to Southeast Asia.
“And then the United States, too, we’ll do what we always do best, is when you—when you think about how we are all collectively going to respond to this, one of the most important things we will do is we will deliver good economic outcomes to economies that have been impacted adversely by this virus,” he added.
Affirming global leadership
THE top US diplomat said America is exercising its global leadership even in the campaign to stop the pandemic by leading and collaborating with countries in fighting the virus, including in Southeast Asia. It’s doing this while squaring off with Covid-19 in its own home, with New York City as the epicenter.
“My deputy is on phone calls every week with countries throughout the Indo-Pacific region, not just in Southeast Asia and Asia but throughout South Central Asia as well; Central Asia, too. We’re very concerned about what’s taking place there and the risks of the virus in the Central Asian countries. We’ve worked closely alongside them as well,” Pompeo said.
“So we talk to them every day. I talked to my Singaporean counterpart across the weekend. It might have been Friday. We continue to work alongside them to both learn from the things that Singapore did, did successfully, as well as to make sure that we’re providing the assistance through State Department efforts and efforts all across the United States government to support these countries in what will be challenging times for many of them who don’t have health-care infrastructures that are likely to be able to, without significant support, match the challenge ahead. We’re prepared to do everything that we can to provide support to those countries,” he added.
Whole of Southeast Asia
THE $18.3-million emergency support to the Asean adds up to the long list of assistance that the US has given to the region, which has already received nearly $3.5 billion in public-health assistance.
Last year, the US allocated $9.5 billion to support public health overseas, including in Southeast Asia, with the amount covering efforts to counter pandemic threats, HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, and other health needs.
“Since 2009, American taxpayers have generously funded more than $100 billion in health assistance and nearly $70 billion in humanitarian assistance globally,” the US State Department said.
Globally, as of March 26, 2020, the United States is providing an initial investment of nearly $274 million in emergency health and humanitarian assistance to help countries in need. This is aside from the funding that it has already provided to multilateral organizations such as the World Health Organization and Unicef.
Pompeo said the US is committed to help the Philippines and the Asean recover from the ravages of the Covid-19 by helping revive and prime their economies.
“I am confident in the aftermath of this; not only will the United States be there with humanitarian assistance, but it will be American ingenuity, American entrepreneurship, and American private sector that will show up in these countries and assist these people in getting their businesses back online, their employment back up to appropriate levels, and help them get their economies back on track. We’re committed to that both at the government [level], and I know the American private sector will step up as well,” he said.
“If you just go back through history, whether that’s in the 1960s, or the…Asian Tigers in the 1990s, the United States in the Pacific has always brought our best through our private sector…with foreign direct investment and technology that we have moved into this region that has lifted out—lifted out of poverty tens of millions of people in Asia,” he added.
Image credits: AP/Andrew Harnik