Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- Today, the United States through its Agency for International Development (USAID), delivered 131 tons of food aid worth approximately US$425,000 to Uzbekistan.

This aid will provide 6.5 million meals to the country’s most vulnerable citizens through distribution in over 120 health and social protection facilities providing support to patients in tuberculosis and mental health care facilities, children with disabilities, and senior citizens.

“This program demonstrates the strong ongoing partnership between Uzbekistan and the United States of America to improve nutrition and ensure that the most vulnerable have adequate, safe and nutritious food to support a healthy and productive life,” David Hoffman, USAID Mission Director in Uzbekistan, said in his speech during the handover ceremony.  

Since 2010, USAID’s International Food Relief Partnership program has delivered over 1,500 tons of food aid to Uzbekistan, worth more than US$4.4 million, through USAID’s partners the U.S. non-profit organization Resource and Policy Exchange and with the Tashkent-based non-profit organization, Sog’lom Avlod Uchun.

This latest humanitarian delivery to Uzbekistan builds on more than US$122 million in long-term U.S. investment in health and over US$1 billion in total aid over the past 20 years.