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The US Civil Affairs Team - Bringing humanitarian relief to Guyana
Bringing Humanitarian Relief to Guyana’s Rural Communities
The United States is the largest single provider of humanitarian assistance worldwide. Total U.S. humanitarian assistance worldwide was more than US$10.5 billion in fiscal year 2020. The primary goal of U.S. humanitarian assistance is to save lives and alleviate suffering by ensuring that vulnerable and crisisaffected individuals receive assistance and protection. U.S. funding provides urgent, life-saving support, including food, shelter, safe drinking water, improved sanitation and hygiene, emergency healthcare services, child protection programs, and education, among other activities to tens of millions of displaced and crisisaffected people, including refugees, worldwide.
In Guyana, the U.S. Embassy Civil Affairs Team provides assistance to Guyanese communities, particularly in underserved regions in the areas of social, economic, and medical development. The Civil Affairs Team works with multiple local and international civic and governmental organizations to provide humanitarian assistance. Guyana has benefitted from approximately US$7.1M in humanitarian aid through the U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency Overseas Humanitarian Assistance since 2004.
The Civil Affairs Team works throughout Guyana to address a variety of humanitarian needs through shortterm, medium-term, and long-term projects. Short-term projects attempt to alleviate immediate concerns such as the recent flooding across the country. Medium-
term projects ease temporary burdens like supporting the Guyana medical system through medical outreach. Long-term projects address enduring needs that have a lasting impact on a community such as providing a clean water source to communities that lack this basic need.
Through the generosity of the American people and the leadership of the U.S. government, the United States continues to provide public health and humanitarian assistance to address the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Civil Affairs Team has supported the Embassy’s efforts to get essential medical supplies to hospitals and residents in remote areas across the country. In an effort to augment the capacity of the medical institutions in these areas, the Civil Affairs Team has provided valuable medical training in first aid, basic trauma care, preventative medicine, women’s health, and sex education. The team has joined with medical professionals from the United States and locally to conduct medical outreach programs across the country with residents benefitting from a variety of medical services including general medicine, dental, pediatrics, optometry, physical therapy, women’s health, dermatology, veterinary, and pharmacy.
In collaboration with the Ministry of Health, Guyana Medical Relief, Central Islamic Organization of Guyana, International Organization for Migration (IOM), United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the Office of the
The US Civil Affairs Team Partners with NGO’s and the Protective Services
Bringing Humanitarian Relief to Guyana’s Rural Communities
First Lady, the U.S. Embassy hosted a medical outreach in Port Kaituma and Mabaruma, Region 1 from August 2-6, 2021. This outreach provided medical services and training in several areas of concern including women’s health, basic trauma care, preventative medicine, sex education, suicide prevention, and veterinary assessments.
The effects of recent flooding across various regions of Guyana were widespread and devastating. U.S. Ambassador Sarah-Ann Lynch joined the Civil Affairs Team in partnership with NGO’s Central Islamic Organization of Guyana, Guyana Medical Relief and Food for the Poor, to provide disaster relief to the town of Kwakwani, Region 10 in wake of the recent flooding. Ambassador Lynch lauded the commitment of Guyanese organizations to help their fellow citizens in time of need, as well as the U.S. resolve to provide assistance to Guyana, particularly in this unprecedented time.
For our common goal of a secure and prosperous Guyana, the U.S. Embassy Civil Affairs Team extends training in casualty care and first aid by Subject Matter Experts to members of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) and Guyana Coast Guard to enhance the GDF and Coast Guard’s ability to save lives during the course of their jobs and daily lives.
Supporting Guyana’s vulnerable youth is also a key element of the Embassy’s humanitarian efforts. Through partnerships with the Guyana Police Force, U.S. and local NGOs, youth from across the country have benefitted from school kits and sporting items to help them develop academically and athletically.
The U.S. Embassy looks forward to continuing to grow our partnership and friendship, building on the fifty-five years of bilateral relations we share with Guyana and her people and remains committed to prosperity for all Guyanese.
