The United States has provided more than 32 million vaccine doses to ASEAN members, committed more than $200 million to COVID-19 relief efforts in Southeast Asia, and donated $500,000 to the COVID-19 ASEAN Response Fund. At the COVID-19 Summit on September 22, President Biden committed to supplying an additional 500 million vaccine doses globally, bringing the total U.S. commitment to over 1.1 billion. For example, the U.S.-ASEAN Health Futures initiative develops long-term partnerships to advance our shared goals of a healthy future, building on $3.5 billion in U.S. public health assistance to ASEAN over the last two decades. President Biden announced $102 million to expand the U.S.-ASEAN Strategic Partnership during the October 26 U.S.-ASEAN Summit. This includes $40 million for Health Futures, $20.5 million for Climate Futures, $20 million for Economic Futures, and $21.5 million for Billion Futures. Additionally, the United States has provided more than $200 million to ASEAN countries to fight the COVID-19 crisis.
Sustaining Health Systems
The U.S.-ASEAN Health Futures platform supports existing and expanded U.S. assistance for public health and combating infectious disease in ASEAN states, focusing on research, health system capacity, and developing the next generation of health professionals.
USAID has expanded access to state-of-the-art technology to test for tuberculosis in all provinces in Indonesia. Since 2016, USAID has provided 82 GeneXpert laboratory machines which help speed up drugs resistant TB diagnosis from two months to two hours. By 2019, the Government of Indonesia, with assistance from the Global Fund, purchased over 900 GeneXpert machines to further enhance nationwide coverage.
USAID’s five-year investments (2011-2017) improved medical services and the emergency referral system in 150 hospitals and 300 health centers in North Sumatra, Banten, West Java, Central Java, East Java, and South Sulawesi. The improvements contributed to a 50% drop in maternal mortality rates and a 21% drop in infant mortality rates at these facilities. In 2019, the Government of Indonesia committed $7 million to scale up USAID’s work to reduce maternal and newborn deaths.
The U.S. government is providing more than $6 million in health assistance to help the Cambodian Government prepare laboratory systems, improve infection control measures, activate case-finding and event-based surveillance, communicate risk, and support technical experts for response and preparedness.
Vice President Kamala Harris launched the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Southeast Asia Regional Office in Hanoi alongside Vietnam’s Deputy Prime Minister and Health Ministers from ASEAN and Papua New Guinea. The CDC office will advance global health security by maintaining a sustainable presence in the region, enabling a rapid and effective response to health threats—wherever they occur—and reinforcing CDC’s core mission of protecting Americans. For more information click here.
Strengthening Health Services
- As of October 2021, the United States has provided more than 42 million safe and effective vaccine doses, more than $200 million in emergency health and humanitarian assistance to ASEAN members to fight COVID-19, and donated $500,000 to the COVID-19 ASEAN Response Fund. At the COVID-19 Summit on September 22, President Biden committed to supplying an additional 500 million vaccine doses globally, bringing the total U.S. commitment to over 1.1 billion.
- The United States is committed to leading the response to the pandemic globally. We are donating vaccines to countries across the world, and we are the leading financial donor to COVAX.
- We have donated and delivered more than 157 million doses to more than 100 countries.
- The United States contributed $2 billion to Gavi in March, which supported procurement and delivery of COVID-19 vaccines through COVAX.
- In July, the U.S. government provided an additional $2 billion contribution for Gavi that will help fill the gap in COVAX’s vaccine supply. This funding, along with other U.S. government funds, will be used toward the purchase of 500 million doses of Pfizer vaccine that will be made available to Gavi for distribution through COVAX to low- and middle-income countries as defined by Gavi’s Advance Market Commitment (AMC) and the African Union, as well as for country vaccination readiness activities.