india

Updated: Apr 30, 2020 12:42 IST

The US announced on Thursday it will hand over aid worth $3 million to the Partnerships for Affordable Healthcare Access and Longevity (PAHAL) project as part of efforts to help India mitigate the spread of Covid-19.

The US Agency for International Development (USAID) has provided $5.9 million so far to assist India in responding to the Covid-19 outbreak. This aid will help India slow the spread of Covid-19, provide care for the affected, disseminate essential public health messages to communities, and strengthen case finding and surveillance.

The US administration had said on April 16 it would provide the aid of $3 million through the USAID. These funds will be used in coordination with the Indian government for the PAHAL project, an innovative financing platform of IPE Global, according to a statement from the US embassy.

Through the PAHAL project, USAID will support the National Health Authority to establish a financing facility that can mobilise resources from the private sector to assist more than 20,000 health facilities enrolled under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY), the health insurance scheme for 500 million poor and vulnerable people.

US ambassador Kenneth Juster said in the statement, “This additional funding to support India in its continuing efforts to combat Covid-19 is yet another example of the strong and enduring partnership between the US and India.”

The US has been one of the world’s largest providers of bilateral aid in public health. In India, the US government, through USAID and department of health and human services agencies, including the Centers for Disease and Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health, has provided more than $1.4 billion in health assistance and nearly $2.8 billion in total assistance over the past 20 years.

“Because an infectious disease threat anywhere can become a threat everywhere, the United States calls on other donors to contribute to the global effort to combat Covid-19,” the statement said.