The United States under President Donald Trump has pledged to support the Kenyan Government with an additional Ksh 53 million ($500,000) in its fight against Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.
A report by KBC on Thursday, April 16, detailed that the announcement brings to total US aid in Kenya in relation to the disease outbreak to over Ksh 106 million ($1M).
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) will engage the Ministry of Health under CS Mutahi Kagwe and County Governments on how the aid would be disbanded.
The US Ambassador to Kenya, Kyle McCarter was quoted to have stated that his government was committed to cooperating with Kenya in the fight against Coronavirus.
He further detailed that USAID will spearhead training sessions of 700 health workers, lab technicians, and other front-line workers in 33 counties in Kenya, to polish them on handling suspected and confirmed Covid-19 cases.
The news comes moments after Trump suspended the US funding to the World Health Organisation (WHO), as the Ministry of Health, Kenya, discussed in detail how the US withdrawal would shape Kenya's fight against Coronavirus.
On Wednesday, April 15, Patrick Amoth, director-general at the Ministry of Health, stated that Kenya would turn to other donors to fund her Coronavirus fight, as Health CS Mutahi Kagwe during a presser at Afya House Nairobi, informed that US President Donald Trumps decision would be analysed by the WHO.
"It is not the time for the world to be divided but rather to unite. We will not succeed if we go in different ways. Covid-19 has exposed the world to a little bit of selfishness, but that is the wrong way to go," Amoth stated as Kagwe announced that Kenya's Coronavirus cases had totalled to 225, with 10 fatalities and 53 recoveries reported.
The United Nations also put Kenya on its watch list as several nations that could benefit from a $2 trillion (Over Ksh 211 trillion) global emergency fund, in their March 2020 report.
In its March report, UN Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Mark Lowcock stated that the agency's priority is to help these countries prepare and continue helping the millions who rely on humanitarian assistance from the UN to survive.
