L-R: President Paul Kagame, President Donald Trump in a past meeting
President Paul Kagame has had a conversation with his United States of America counterpart Donald Trump to discuss the bilateral relationship and Covid-19 Pandemic support.
“I just had a good conversation with President @realDonaldTrump. We discussed our good relationship, and the support he personally, and his administration are extending to Rwanda to combat the #COVID19 pandemic. This was much appreciated,” Kagame wrote on his official twitter handle this evening.
The United States of America has been very supportive to Rwanda in terms of fighting Coronavirus.
Yesterday, Ambassador of the USA to Rwanda Peter Vrooman took to twitter where he announced in Kinyarwanda a $ 4 Million support to Rwanda in the area of Covid-19 fight.
The support was pledged yesterday as an “Additional emergency funding for Rwanda’s COVID-19 response.”
“These donations continue the U.S. government’s strong support of Rwanda’s public health sector and will expand the Rwandan government’s ability to support critical public health needs during the current pandemic,” writes the US Embassy to Rwanda.
In detail, three million dollars (2.8 billion Rwanda francs) will be directly awarded from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to the Rwanda Biomedical Center (RBC).
These funds will be used to increase laboratory diagnostic capacity and biosafety, to enhance central and district-level surveillance, to strengthen infection, prevention and to control for acute respiratory infections.
It will also help to train frontline public health workers in all 30 districts through CDC’s field epidemiology training program (FETP).
“An additional 700,000 dollars (650 million Rwandan francs) from the U.S. Agency for International Development will augment the 1 million dollars in assistance through our Ingobyi health program announced on April 4,” reads the press release.
This USAID emergency health assistance will help with surveillance and case management efforts in support of the Government of Rwanda’s COVID-19 National Preparedness and Response Plan.
The announcement also included nearly $500,000 in additional funding from the Department of State to support refugees in Rwanda.
“The United States is proud of the strong partnership that we have with Rwanda in public health,” said U.S. Ambassador Peter Vrooman. “We are taking an ‘All-of-America’ approach to address this crisis. Together we will overcome this outbreak.”
According to this same announcement, the United States is Rwanda’s partner in public health. In the past 20 years, the United States has invested more than 1.5 billion dollars in public health in Rwanda, assistance that has “helped Rwanda improve health outcomes on many challenges, including malaria, TB, and HIV/AIDS.”
“U.S. public health assistance keeps everyone safer and is making a real difference in Rwandans’ fight against COVID-19,” said Vrooman.
As of April 24 in Rwanda, the Covid-19 cases reached 176, of which 87 have recovered and 89 are active cases. Rwanda registered no fatality since the spread of Covid-19 on March 14, 2020.
In the USA, by press time, Covid-19 cases had increased to 929,841 while deaths had reached 52,843.
