U.S.-PH launch COVID-19 prevention campaign for kids in Visayas

 MINERVA BC NEWMAN

CEBU CITY – The United States of America through its U.S. Embassy in the Philippines Chargé d’Affaires ad interim Heather Variava and the Philippines led by Cebu City mayor Michael Rama and representatives from the Department of Health (DOH) and Department of Education (DepEd) launched in Cebu on March 8 the BIDA KID COVID-19 prevention campaign in the Visayas.

The BIDA KID campaign reminds everyone to continue observing COVID-19 prevention measures as children return to school and people resume in-person activities.  The campaign is a follow-up to the BIDA Solusyon (Be the Solution) COVID-19 prevention multimedia campaign, supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) that reminds everyone to continue practicing key COVID-19 preventive behaviors.

“With more than 90 percent of our city’s target population fully vaccinated, we celebrate the near total defeat of COVID-19 in Cebu City.  In this, we are truly and deeply grateful to USAID for being a major force that made this achievement possible,” Rama said

Based on its vaccination records, Cebu City reached its milestone of vaccinating 92 percent of its eligible adult population and with the USAID support, it wants to advance efforts to reach similar goal for children ages 5-11.

“We are very pleased to see the fruits of our partnership with your city, and we look forward to forging on together as we build back better.  “We remain committed as enduring friends, partners, and allies to work with you all so we can finally put an end to this pandemic,” Variava, said.

In her first visit to Cebu, CDA Variava met with university, business, and government leaders to discuss opportunities to strengthen and deepen U.S.-Philippine partnerships.  She also participated in an International Women’s Day program at the American Corner of Cebu.

 Variava also visited a USAID-supported pediatric vaccination site at Cebu City’s Ayala Center mall and received a plaque of appreciation from Mayor Rama for the U.S. government’s support in mitigating COVID-19 community outbreaks and enhancing the city’s vaccine rollout, including for children aged 5 to 11.

Assisting the Philippines in its COVID-19 response has been a top U.S. government priority since the outbreak began.  To date, the United States has provided more than Php1.9 billion ($39 million) to support the country’s COVID-19 response and accelerate vaccination for priority populations. 

The United States has also donated more than 33 million doses of safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines to the Philippines through the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX) facility.

USAID has supported Cebu City’s COVID-19 response by training nearly 200 barangay health emergency teams; reaching more than one million people with various prevention, detection, isolation, treatment, reintegration, and vaccination messages.

USAID has also enhanced 14 community isolation units that served more than 10,000 individuals at the peak of the pandemic and it helped establish nearly 100 vaccination sites that greatly help Cebu City manage the more than 53,000 cases recorded since March 2020.

For the past 60 years, USAID has worked with the Philippine government and local organizations to achieve shared development goals, investing more than $5.1 billion (Php247.5 billion) to support the Philippines. (Photos: US Embassy/Google Images)