WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 20th June, 2020) The United States has allocated additional $93 million in humanitarian aid to help the most vulnerable countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America fight the novel coronavirus outbreak, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement on Friday.
"Today, we're providing approximately $93 million in new humanitarian assistance to bolster our ongoing response efforts, helping the world's most vulnerable overcome the devastation inflicted by this deadly virus," Pompeo said. "This new funding will help people across the world, including throughout Asia, Africa, and Latin America."
Pompeo pointed out that some $75 million of the newly allocated funds from the International Disaster Assistance account will be spent on emergency health, water, sanitation, hygiene, protection programs as well as on food assistance.
"In addition, nearly $18 million from the Migration and Refugee Assistance account will enhance the ability of our international and non-governmental organization partners to provide water, sanitation and hygiene supplies; livelihood support; psycho-social services; food security; and access to health services and information for refugees, vulnerable migrants, and host communities while also protecting the health of humanitarian actors serving these populations," Pompeo said.
The new assistance brings State Department - and USAID - funding for the response to the novel coronavirus pandemic to more than $1.3 billion.
The World Health Organization has put the total number of novel coronavirus cases globally at 8.2 million.
