US announces $250-M new aid package for PH health programs
The United States announced on Friday, P13.8 billion ($250 million) in new foreign assistance to the Philippines that would strengthen health systems, improve disease detection and response capabilities, and enhance maternal and child health services in the country, the US Embassy said in a statement.
The move followed the $63 million announced during US President Donald Trump’s meeting with President Marcos at the White House in July, the first US foreign assistance announced by Washington after the US leader revamped foreign assistance pipelines.
“The amount of funding that is going to foreign assistance has been reduced, no doubt about that,” Assistant State Secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Jonathan Fritz said during a recent visit to the country.
Even as Trump overhauled how it provides billions of dollars of aid to countries, Fritz said the Philippines, as a key American ally in the Indo-Pacific, “is at the forefront of this realignment.”
‘Comprehensive bond’
The latest aid demonstrates “the comprehensive bond between the United States and the Philippines” and “the efficient, time-limited, and narrowly targeted approach of this new era of America First foreign assistance,” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement on Thursday.
Following Rubio’s statement, US Ambassador to the Philippines MaryKay Carlson said, “Together, we are building a healthier, more resilient future.”
“This funding underscores the United States’ unwavering commitment to the health and well-being of the Filipino people and demonstrates our long-term partnership in addressing shared challenges,” Carlson said in a statement released by the embassy in Manila.
The US Embassy Foreign Assistance Section will lead the implementation of these initiatives in priority areas.
This new funding raises the total of recently announced US foreign assistance committed to the Philippines to more than P17 billion ($313 million), following an earlier announcement of P3 billion ($63 million) to support Philippine energy sector resilience, combat illegal fishing in the South China Sea, and deepen private sector development in the Luzon Economic Corridor.
The US commitment to improve health outcomes in the Philippines and the Indo-Pacific region focuses on critical areas of Tuberculosis Control and Prevention, Global Health Security, Maternal and Child Health and Nutrition, and other areas important to both countries’ health security.
