Minister Of Health Budi Will Find Other Donor Countries Following The Closing Of USAID

JAKARTA - Minister of Health (Menkes) Budi Gunadi Sadikin said he would try to find other countries to become donors, following the decision of the President of the United States (US) to close the USAID.

"Yesterday I went to Australia, we also got a commitment to secure 130 million Australian dollars. Even though the Australian dollar and the US dollar are different, yes. But at least we have received that commitment. Later I will try to find other donors as well," said Minister of Health Budi Gunadi Sadikin in Jakarta, Antara, Thursday, January 6.

He said that based on official communication received by his party, assistance from USAID was detained, not that it was stopped at all.

The assistance provided by USAID to Indonesia, he said, amounted to around 100 million US dollars or around Rp. 1 trillion. The assistance, he said, was not directly given to the Ministry of Health, but to third parties.

"Well, this shortfall will definitely have an impact. But we also have other donor countries," said the Minister of Health.

For Indonesia, USAID has distributed around 153 million US dollars in 2023 for various projects. These projects include support for anti-corruption, climate change, education, and health.

One of the USAID aid projects, namely financial assistance worth US$882,750 (around Rp13.35 billion) to the World Health Organization (WHO) to fund polio vaccination activities in Indonesia.

Since 2023 USAID has provided financial assistance of more than 3.2 million US dollars (around Rp48.4 billion) to support the handling of the polio outbreak in Indonesia and two rounds of national immunization.

Previously, the Head Office of the United States International Development Agency (USAID) in Washington, Monday (3/2), was officially closed after the head of Elon Musk's Government Efficiency Department (DOGE) said President Donald Trump had given the agency the green light to close.

On Sunday (2/2) Elon Musk called USAID a "criminal organization" and according to him, "it's time for the organization to die". This follows the organization's refusal to provide access for DOGE personnel to security systems and personnel files, and related to classified information at the USAID headquarters.

Meanwhile US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Monday, confirmed that he is now the acting director of USAID. Rubio said USAID must follow the US State Department's policy directions and the current situation does not mean that their programs must be stopped.

Dari web https://www.usaid.gov/, per 7 Februari 2025 pukul 23.59 seluruh pegawai langsung USAID akan ditempatkan dalam cuti administratif secara global, kecuali mereka yang menjalankan fungsi kritis.