Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- Today, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) held a capstone event to mark the achievements made by its Local Health System Sustainability (LHHS) COVID-19 response activity. LHSS, which was implemented by Abt Associates Incorporated., and launched at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in April 2020. The LHSS activity supported a coordinated national emergency response led by the Ministry of Health and helped build the resilience of the health system against future shocks. 

Through the LHSS activity, USAID provided over US$4.425 million in assistance to the Government of Uzbekistan. This included US$2.22 million for testing and diagnostics for COVID-19; capacity building of healthcare workers; strengthening epidemiological surveillance; supply chain management; and intensive care case management of COVID-19 patients. USAID also provided an additional US$2.23 million in supplies delivered to support the COVID-19 emergency response. These included rapid testing-PCR machines for COVID-19 testing that were extremely critical in the early days of the pandemic in Uzbekistan.

“We are proud of the partnership between USAID and the Government of Uzbekistan that was forged in early 2020 to combat COVID-19, an unprecedented global pandemic. I would like to give credit to the Government of Uzbekistan and the Ministry of Health for their vision, dedication, and hardworking staff to lead the country’s response to mitigate COVID-19 in Uzbekistan,” said USAID Uzbekistan Mission Director, Mikaela Meredith. 

Over 100 guests, including representatives from the Ministry of Health, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, national counterparts and the donor community, attended the virtual event.

The participants discussed the achievements, best practices and lessons learned from the LHSS activity. One important achievement during the last 18 months has been the development of a COVID-19 case management distance learning program for health professionals. Nearly 500 healthcare providers were trained in intensive care case management of COVID-19 and on the appropriate use of ventilators and oxygen therapy. USAID will donate these resources to the Ministry of Health to enable more healthcare providers to benefit from this training.