Mar 27, 2020

The United States today touted nearly $40 million in aid to the Middle East and North Africa as part of a $274 million emergency health and humanitarian assistance package to help afflicted countries deal with the coronavirus pandemic.

The State Department disclosed that a substantial share of that funding — $15.5 million — will benefit Iraq to “help prepare laboratories, implement a public-health emergency plan for points of entry, activate case-finding and event-based surveillance for influenza-like illnesses, and more.”

Additionally, Morocco and Tunisia will each receive roughly $700,000 to prepare laboratories and surveil new infections while supporting “technical experts for response and preparedness” and bolstering “risk communication.”

Finally, the State Department announced nearly $17 million in humanitarian aid for Syria and another $6 million for Libya.

Why it matters: The United States currently has some 85,600 recorded coronavirus cases, the most of any country in the world. But the pandemic is also spreading throughout the Middle East, particularly in Iran. Iraq reported 382 coronavirus cases, while Morocco reported 275 and Tunisia another 197. There have only been five recorded cases in Syria and one in Libya, but public health experts fear that the wars afflicting both countries and the millions of displaced people could hasten the virus’ spread.