Guyana to get additional funding for COVID-19 from the Global Fund

Sep 28, 2020 News

The Government of Guyana is expected to benefit from the sum of US$357,894 in additional financial assistance, as part of the Global Fund’s COVID-19 Response Mechanism (C19RM). These funds will go toward further boosting the Ministry of Health’s ongoing COVID-19 emergency response, Minister of Health Dr. Frank Anthony said in a statement

Minister of Health, Dr. Frank Anthony

“As Minister of Health, and on behalf of our Government, I am grateful to The Global Fund for their continued willingness to further contribute to improving the health sector in our beloved Guyana,” Dr. Anthony added.
The Health Minister noted it was Division Head of Grant Management at the Global Fund Mark Eldon-Edington who in his letter pointed out that the COVID-19 pandemic is rapidly spreading across the globe and threatens to, among other things, overwhelm community and health systems, and cause significant morbidity and mortality.
As such, the additional funding of US$357,894 or approximately $73M is pegged to help mitigate the impact of the pandemic and support health and community systems in Guyana.
“Given the urgency of these interventions and activities, the funds will be incorporated into the grants no later than November 12, 2020,” Minister Anthony said, noting that the outbreak and spread of the disease presents an unprecedented challenge, not only for countries around the world, but also for Guyana and all the countries along our borders.
“The COVID-19 pandemic is likely to remain a global challenge for many more months and experts predict that until a vaccine becomes available, it will continue to be a major public health emergency across the world. None of us must underestimate the serious impact of COVID-19 on the health, the social and the economic wellbeing of our country and people,” Dr. Anthony asserted.
It is in this context, he reiterated the need for every citizen to become part of the fight against the disease. According to Dr. Anthony, the Government has since taken aggressive steps to remove the limitations and strengthen the response.
“We have also been ensuring an aggressive laboratory testing programme; expanding contact-tracing; providing exposed persons with testing and counseling; and providing an effective hospital treatment and care programme for all critically-ill patients.
At the same time, our Government is empowering people to utilise measures to keep safe, such as urging mask-wearing in public, encouraging social distancing at all times, and discouraging public and private gatherings of crowds,” he explained.
Since there is increased testing, the Health Minister said that the Government has better knowledge of where the virus is lurking, hence giving them the ability to treat people earlier.
“If we all work together, we can stop COVID-19. The Government is confident that, as we expand our emergency response through our own resources combined with external support, such as this additional financial assistance from The Global Fund, we will see a significant reduction of the impact of COVID-19,” Dr. Anthony said.