(Washington, D.C., May 19, 2022) –Today, U.S. Congress passed a supplemental funding package to address the conflict in Ukraine and its humanitarian impacts across the world. In response, Ritu Sharma, CARE Vice President of US Programs and Policy, said:
“Today’s Ukraine supplemental package is an important investment from the United States to address the impacts of this war and prevent the very real threat of famine compounded by COVID, climate and numerous conflicts. Before Ukraine, we already had a severe global hunger crisis on our hands, with 193 million people globally suffering from acute food insecurity last year, up nearly 40 million from 2020.
But this was also a huge missed opportunity – perhaps the last one for months – to fund absolutely critical investments in COVID-19 around the world. Less than 16% of people in low-income countries have received at least one dose of a COVID vaccine. Not only have almost 6.7 million people around the world died from COVID-19 – including 1 million Americans – but even more women and children have died because COVID disrupted normal healthcare services.
This is not the moment to step back. Each day we wait, we risk more variants, and we risk more lives. It’s time to pass at least $5 billion for the global COVID response immediately and stop dragging out this pandemic.”