Dushanbe, Tajikistan, May 06, 2020 – The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC/CAR) has pledged $6.8 Million to support the governments in Central Asia in managing the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak, including $1.69 million for Tajikistan. This assistance adds to the $1 million in assistance already provided by USAID to support Tajikistan’s efforts to combat an outbreak of COVID-19.
CDC’s offices in Central Asia will use these new funds to address the most urgent needs and gaps in response that were identified by CDC staff in partnership with the local governments. These include procurement of laboratory supplies and equipment for COVID-19 testing, organizing trainings for public health workers, providing technical assistance for border health activities, as well as developing and implementing clinical protocols.
“We have been closely monitoring the COVID-19 situation in Central Asia since January and have offered technical assistance to all the governments in the region to support their outbreak response.” said CDC Central Asia Director Dr. Daniel Singer. “These funds will allow us to further strengthen the measures taken by countries to slow the spread of the virus. This builds on CDC’s long-standing regional work to control HIV and TB, and prepare for influenza and other pandemic diseases. CDC investments to improve health security have laid foundations to rapidly and effectively prepare for emerging threats, including the current coronavirus outbreak, and we feel our collaboration with the ministries of health is more important now than ever.” U.S. Ambassador to Tajikistan John Mark Pommersheim noted, “This assistance will help the people of Tajikistan and their heroic medical staff overcome this health crisis which has affected every corner of the world. The U.S. Embassy has provided nearly $125 million in health assistance to Tajikistan over the past 20 years in order to strengthen Tajikistan’s ability to respond to crises such as this.”
CDC Central Asia has been supporting the ministries of health in Central Asia since the beginning of the outbreak by organizing trainings, and providing technical assistance on emergency operations, laboratory operations, infection prevention and control, screening at ports of entry, risk communication and community engagement, and disease surveillance. They have also been translating technical guidance documents published by leading international public health organizations into Russian for distribution.
CDC has a long history of collaboration with governments in Central Asia on public health issues. CDC opened its first office in Almaty in 1995 and today it has offices in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan. CDC works with each Ministry of Health to strengthen local laboratory, disease surveillance, and workforce capacity so that the countries can better prevent, detect and respond to disease outbreaks
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