Washington, D.C., (VNA) - Vietnam will receive an aid package worth 9.5 million USD to cope with COVID-19, including 5 million USD for Economic Support Funds, according to the US Department of State.
The funds will be utilised to bring much needed resources to bear immediately, including supporting private sector recovery by mitigating the financial impacts of the pandemic on small and medium-sized-sized enterprises (SMEs), addressing the non-financial impacts facing SMEs, and partnering with Government of Vietnam stakeholders to bolster the government’s relief interventions.
The US aid package also includes a previously announced 4.5-million-USD medical assistance for the Vietnamese Government to prepare laboratory systems and activate case-finding and event-based surveillance.
It also covers the support for experts in response to COVID-19, community education and engagement, infection prevention for healthcare settings, public health screening at points of entry, and more.
Over the past 20 years, the US has invested more than 1.8 billion USD in total assistance for Vietnam, including over 706 million USD for health.
Since the outbreak of COVID-19, the US Government has pledged 775 million USD for medical emergency, humanitarian, economic and developmental assistance to help governments, international organisations and non-governmental organisations to beat the pandemic./.