The U.S. Department of the Interior has allocated $858,924 in emergency grant funding to the Pacific Island Health Officers Association (PIHOA) for procuring GeneXpert COVID-19 testing kits and a machine. This initiative aims to enable on-island testing during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic across U.S. Pacific territories and freely associated states.
Assistant Secretary for Insular and International Affairs, Douglas W. Domenech, stated, "Secretary Bernhardt and I are pleased to support the purchase of testing materials and the machine in facilitating island health officials to conduct on-site testing for COVID-19 cases during this pandemic." He further explained that travel restrictions have limited centralized lab testing services but noted that recent Emergency Use Authorization announcements by President Trump and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration have opened new avenues for local testing.
The funding will benefit American Samoa, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, as well as the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the Republic of Palau. The PIHOA confirmed that these regions already possess necessary equipment and expertise to perform localized COVID-19 tests using the GeneXpert platform.
PIHOA is collaborating with regional health authorities to assess needs and will manage a bulk procurement process for newly developed COVID-19 testing kits alongside a back-up GeneXpert machine.
For those interested in applying for OIA TAP funding, guidelines are available on their website. The Office of Insular Affairs has extended its grant application deadline from April 1 to May 1, 2020, due to global pandemic conditions.
More information about OIA's work can be found on their official website or through Twitter updates via @ASIIADomenech.