U.S. Embassy Brasil Fact Sheet
U.S. Assistance Efforts for COVID-19: BRAZIL
Around the World
- The United States is the global leader in health and humanitarian assistance and has been since long before the COVID-19 outbreak. Over the past decade, American taxpayers have invested nearly $170 billion in U.S. government provided assistance around the world.
- This is close to 40 percent of the world’s global health assistance every year and amounts to nearly five times the contribution of the next-largest donor. Without this U.S. assistance, the front-line response to the COVID-19 pandemic would be far weaker than it is – and the world would be in a more dangerous state than it is today.
- The United States is the World Health Organization’s (WHO) largest contributor, with more than $400 million in contributions in 2019, and supports WHO’s coronavirus relief efforts including:
- shipping personal protective gear to more than 70 countries; and
- providing 1.5 million test kits to 120 countries.
- This assistance expands global capacity to protect health workers and track and combat the disease.
- Congress has just approved nearly $1.6 billion in emergency supplemental funding to support public health systems, humanitarian activities, and economic, security, and stabilization efforts around the globe.
- Congress also just approved around $3.5 billion in additional funding to the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. The United States remains the largest contributor to the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, and the International Monetary Fund, all of which have announced additional financial assistance for countries in need.
- The Federal Reserve announced March 31 the establishment of a temporary repurchase agreement facility for foreign and international monetary authorities (FIMA Repo Facility) to support the smooth functioning of financial markets.
- The Federal Reserve announced the establishment of U.S. dollar liquidity arrangements (swap lines) with 14 central banks, including the Banco Central do Brazil, to support the provision of U.S. dollar liquidity. These facilities are designed to help reduce the strain on global U.S. dollar funding markets, thereby expanding the supply of credit to households and businesses, both domestically and abroad.
- Donations from private Americans citizens – which average 2 percent of U.S. GDP annually – are surging in response to COVID-19, and American businesses, NGOs, and religious and charitable organizations have already provided more than $1.5 billion to COVID-19 victims in Italy and other hard-hit regions around the world.
- The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is investing $1billion in a public-private partnership with Johnson & Johnson. This initiative aims to develop a COVID-19 vaccine, which could be available in early 2021. Johnson & Johnson has pledged one billion doses of vaccine for the global supply through this public-private partnership.
With Brazil
- Health collaboration is one of the oldest, strongest, and most impactful elements of our bilateral relationship.
- The United States provided critical technical assistance to Brazil during the Zika epidemic in 2016 and strengthened the capacities and lasting ties of our respective health agencies, thus improving the response for future threats, such as the current COVID-19 pandemic.
- U.S. government agencies are sharing technical information with their Brazilian counterparts and identifying ways our collaborative efforts can speed progress towards diagnostics, treatments, and vaccines.
- U.S. companies are leading the way in Brazil by developing innovative solutions to produce needed commodities. As one example, General Motors is working with local agencies to repair inactive ventilators and deploy them back to the health system for treating Brazilians with severe COVID-19 symptoms.
- U.S. Government agencies are working with private sector and NGO partners to develop and contribute to a common fund dedicated to mitigating the impact of the pandemic on the most vulnerable populations while also supporting increased health care needs.
- The U.S. Government is exploring innovative financing mechanisms to leverage private sector resources to increase production of critical health supplies in Brazil.
