The United States Government, through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), is saving lives by supporting Egypt’s COVID-19 response. Building on more than $1 billion in investments over the past 40 years to improve the health of all Egyptians, USAID programs help Egypt deliver vaccines and get shots in arms, expand access to COVID-19 testing and treatment, protect and train health workers, deliver life-saving health commodities and equipment, share reliable public health information, and support students pursuing undergraduate nursing and public health degrees at universities throughout Egypt.
During earlier phases of the pandemic, USAID mounted a comprehensive response to secure decades of progress threatened by the pandemic, providing more than $55 million in assistance. USAID programs provided emergency food and hygiene assistance, helped children learn from home, prevented businesses from closing, analyzed economic policy and made recommendations for stimulus packages, addressed violence against women, and tackled other devastating impacts of the pandemic, reaching nearly 18 million people with needed health and economic support.
IMPACT & PROGRAMS
Vaccines
The U.S. Government has donated 25 million doses of the Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson vaccines to Egypt to fight COVID-19, saving lives and helping prevent dangerous new variants from spreading. In addition, through COVAX, a global initiative to support equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines, Egypt has received nearly 39 million COVID vaccine doses. USAID has pledged $4 billion to support COVAX, making the United States the single largest contributor to global COVID-19 vaccine access. In partnership with the Government of Egypt and the World Health Organization, USAID is also helping get shots in arms by providing accurate and reliable COVID-19 vaccine information and training health workers in vaccine delivery, safety, and counseling.
Supporting Prevention, Early Diagnosis, and Case Management
USAID supports the Egyptian government to curb the spread of COVID-19 by strengthening the health system in prevention, detection, and response. Starting in the 1990s, USAID established Egypt’s hospital-based national electronic disease surveillance system and reinforced the Central Public Health Laboratory structures, which is now diagnosing and analyzing COVID-19 cases in Egypt. By building on past investments, USAID supports two complementary programs to further improve infection prevention and control measures and to update and improve existing surveillance and response systems. USAID efforts also strengthen the skills of physicians, nurses, and other health workers in COVID-19 case management to include testing and diagnosis, contact tracing, and scaling up laboratories. USAID programs are implemented in both the Ministry of Health and Population and university hospitals. In 2020, USAID also donated 250 U.S.-made ventilators to Egypt to enhance the care of patients suffering from the most severe symptoms of COVID-19, as well as other diseases, for years to come.
Community Health Workers
USAID and the Ministry of Health and Population have trained 14,000 community health workers to provide critical information at the village level to stop the spread of COVID-19 and other diseases. USAID supports community health workers to disseminate public health messages to reduce infections and promote handwashing and other good hygiene practices.
University Scholarships
USAID higher education scholarship programs support a growing number of young people pursuing undergraduate nursing and public health degrees at universities throughout Egypt. Many graduates of the program were on the front line of the COVID-19 response. In addition to their university degrees, these scholars receive training in leadership and other life skills to prepare them to face the challenges of pandemic response with both courage and resilience.
Early Detection of COVID-19 in Wastewater
USAID is supporting the Government of Egypt to detect SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, in sewer systems to better understand outbreaks and reduce the time and cost of contact tracing. This early warning system supports public health measures to contain and control new COVID-19 outbreaks. This program provides technical support to improve the Government of Egypt’s ability to plan for, sample, test, and disseminate information related to an early warning system for SARS-CoV-2 outbreaks.
Social Protection
USAID is partnering with the Ministry of Social Solidarity to support long-term COVID-19 relief efforts and provide socioeconomic support to the most vulnerable communities in Egypt. This includes non-medical equipment for health care facilities, microloans for vulnerable women and single-headed households, and nationwide technical assistance to the Ministry of Social Solidarity’s social protection services such as the Takaful and Karama program and its partner non-governmental organizations to develop integrated IT infrastructure and improve the level of coordination between them.
U.S. Global Response to COVID-19
Since the beginning of the outbreak, USAID has provided more than $9 billion to fight COVID-19 in more than 120 countries. Globally, the U.S. Government is responding to the COVID-19 outbreak by providing emergency relief, strengthening health systems, supporting vaccine readiness and distribution, improving public health education, and protecting healthcare workers and their families. For more information about how USAID is responding to COVID-19 across the world, please visit www.usaid.gov/coronavirus.
USAID/Egypt
