USAID’s FY 2019 request directly contributes to the Administration’s Indo-Pacific Strategy (IPS) of advancing a free, open, and rules-based order. Through our bilateral and regional programs, we will help partner countries strengthen their democratic systems (with a focus on good governance); ensure their regulatory environments for trade, infrastructure, and investment are transparent, open, and free of corruption; and encourage responsible natural resource management, upon which many countries depend for their growth. In accordance with the IPS, we are also supporting India’s emergence as a pillar of stability in the region and examining how we can further strengthen India and our relationship in this regard.

For more than 20 years, the U.S. Government (USG) has been a leader in the global effort to increase access to TB diagnosis, treatment, prevention and care, particularly in countries with the highest burden of disease. Thanks to the generosity of the American people and the strong support of the U.S. Congress, USAID is the largest bilateral donor in the fight against TB. We work in partnership with national TB programs (NTPs) in Ministries of Health (MoHs), the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (the Global Fund), the World Health Organization (WHO), the Stop TB Partnership, technical assistance organizations, civil society including faith-based organizations, as well as affected people and communities. USAID has driven and funded interventions, tools, and technologies that have helped save 53 million lives from 2000 to 2016. Our efforts to build partnerships with national governments, multilateral organizations, and departments and agencies across the US Government have developed and strengthened country capacity to end the TB epidemic around the world.

USAID’s engagement in Latin America and the Caribbean is a reflection of the region’s proximity to and close ties to with the United States.

Our supply-chain activities also provide technical assistance to build capacity and expertise in partner countries to deliver, routinely and licitly, life-saving products purchased with revenues raised locally or from other donors, while also improving trust in local health institutions and services. This technical assistance is an important contributor to Administrator Green and Ambassador Birx’s shared vision of moving countries along the path to self-reliance. I am here today to discuss with you the work we do in supply-chain management and the procurement of medicines and commodities; provide an update on the performance of our current contractor in this area; share our experience and lessons learned to date; and describe the path forward.