VIENTIANE, LAO PDR -- U.S. Ambassador to Laos, Dr. Peter Haymond and officials from the U.S. Department of Defense presented COVID-19 relief supplies to Dr. Sanong Thongsana, Lao PDR Deputy Minister of Health as part of the United States’ ongoing COVID-19 support to the Lao PDR, 22 June 2021.

The U.S. government brought these supplies, valued at US $71,000, on a U.S. Air Force C-17 “Globemaster III” cargo plane to Wattay International Airport. The supplies will reinforce the Ministry of Health’s work monitoring and controlling the spread of COVID-19.

“I am pleased today to handover this latest round of supplies to facilitate COVID-19 testing throughout the Lao PDR,” said Ambassador Haymond. “The materials offered today are another example of the United States’ long-term commitment to our Comprehensive Partnership with the Lao PDR, which celebrates its fifth anniversary this year. Together we are working to build health capacity, including in the current fight against COVID-19. This is one of several such deliveries donated by the United States through the Department of Defense, specifically the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command.”

The U.S. Department of Defense and the Lao Ministry of Defense have a shared goal of protecting Lao public health as well as increasing their military medical partnership. Over the past year, the U.S. Department of Defense has worked with the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Defense Medical Department to identify the health needs of the Lao people, contributing $2.5M USD in areas such as health facilities, field ambulances, laboratory equipment and supplies, COVID-19 test kids and supplies, and personal protective equipment. This assistance is part of the more than US $8 million in COVID-related assistance that the U.S. government has committed to the Lao PDR since the beginning of the outbreak.