The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has pledged USD 3.6 million to assist India’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. These resources will support prevention, preparedness and response activities in India.
The initial tranche of funding will seek to further strengthen and support the government of India’s efforts to increase laboratory capacity for SARS-COV-2 testing, including molecular diagnostics and serology.
The funds will also be used to support development of Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) centres of excellence (CoE) that can improve the ability of hospital networks to detect COVID-19 and strengthen local health systems through enhanced surveillance and monitoring systems.
The CDC will work with local partners to assist in development of a strong public health workforce to support India’s capacity to respond not only to the pandemic, but to future threats as well.
The scope of support will include planning for health emergency operations centres to further strengthen public health emergency management capacities. In addition, the CDC India programme will provide technical assistance for the government of India’s ongoing crisis emergency and risk communication efforts.
