This year’s World Health Day celebration on April 7 reminds us of the need to protect people and their environment.
The United States is answering the call by leading an international effort to strengthen World Health Organization (WHO) regulations that will better prepare the world to prevent, detect, and respond quickly to future disease outbreaks.
Here are other ways the United States is working to improve global health.
Combating Covid-19 and Other Infectious Diseases
Through the Global Access to Covid-19 Vaccines (Covax) and other partners, the United States has donated over 500 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines to more than 110 countries, part of President Biden’s promise to share 1.2 billion doses of Covid-19 vaccines with the world. Covax is an international partnership dedicated to the equitable distribution of Covid-19 vaccines, coordinated by WHO and other collaborators.
Since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, the United States has provided about $20 billion in health, humanitarian, economic, and development assistance to over 120 countries to combat the pandemic.
Among the U.S. efforts to combat other infectious diseases are:
• A planned investment of $150 million* in the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (Cepi) aimed at developing safe and effective vaccines in 100 days to prevent the next pandemic.
• Annual investments of $1 billion* through the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (Pepfar) aimed at helping local health systems respond better to AIDS and other health threats.
• An investment of $770 million through the President’s Malaria Initiative in 2020 aimed at combating malaria, helping to send malaria medications to nearly 60 million people.
Promoting Good Nutrition
On December 7, 2021, the United States announced a plan to invest up to $11 billion over three years to combat global malnutrition, an underlying cause of about half of childhood deaths worldwide.
From 2010 to 2017, the United States invested over $19 billion in nutrition programs, one of the largest contributions from any global donor.
“Good nutrition is essential to safeguard children’s lives and their ability to reach their full physical and intellectual potential,” said Secretary of State Antony Blinken, announcing the commitment, which is subject to congressional approval.
“We will work to ensure that global crises, including Covid-19 and the climate crisis, do not worsen the global nutrition situation and that negative trends in malnutrition are reversed,” he added.
Source: share.america.gov