COTONOU, Benin - The United States Government is providing protective equipment and health supplies to strengthen the community-level response to COVID-19 in the departments of Atlantique, Collines, and Mono.
The United States, through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), presented a selection of materials to the Ministry of Health and department officials at a ceremony in Abomey-Calavi, which was attended by the ministries of Primary and Secondary Education, mayors, and partners.
Across the three departments, the United States is helping educate people about COVID-19, promoting healthy practices to limit transmission, and equipping health workers to respond to the disease by:
- Providing handwashing stations to 105 health facilities, 297 primary schools, and 190 secondary schools to improve access to hand hygiene for patients and more than 149,000 students;
- Supplying 1181 community health workers with masks, handwashing stations, and audio equipment to educate people about the disease and promote handwashing, social distancing, and mask-wearing;
- Training and equipping 1030 volunteer health brigades to monitor cases of COVID-19 and public adherence to healthy practices at the community level; and
- Supporting two mobile rapid response teams, which assist health facilities with testing, contact tracing, and patient case management, and advise patients’ families on ways to prevent disease transmission.
Through USAID, the United States is providing $415,000 in health assistance in the Department of Mono and $337,000 in the departments of Atlantique and Collines, as part its larger package of $4.5 million for the response to COVID-19 throughout Benin. In total, the United States is supplying 69,066 masks, 1323 handwashing stations, 16,150 liters of soap, 3205 boxes of gloves, 1030 megaphones, 53 loudspeakers, and other support materials in the three departments.
“Ending the pandemic depends on our willingness to work together, to practice healthy habits, and to support each other as families, communities, and partners. So let’s continue working together to stop this pandemic and to build a brighter and healthier future for all,” said U.S. Ambassador Patricia Mahoney during the ceremony.
The United States is promoting global health security to advance a more peaceful, prosperous, and democratic world. In addition to supporting Benin’s response to COVID-19, the United States provided $25 million to fight malaria, improve maternal and child health, and meet the need for family planning in Benin in 2020.