Interior Provides Funding to Ensure Continued Services under Four Atoll Healthcare Program in the Marshall Islands

WASHINGTON – Doug Domenech, U.S. Department of the Interior Assistant Secretary, Insular and International Affairs, has moved to authorize $392,716, for the first quarter of fiscal year 2019, which represents a partial funding amount for the Four Atoll Healthcare Program in the Republic of the Marshall Islands. Leadership at the Department of the Interior appreciates the importance of the continuity of healthcare services under this program for the people of Bikini, Enewetak, Rongelap, and Utrok.

“Every year Congress provides the necessary funds to meet these important healthcare commitments for the people of Bikini, Enewetak, Rongelap, and Utrok on behalf of the U.S. Government,” said Assistant Secretary Domenech. “Originally funded through the first Compact of Free Association, these services are now supported through discretionary funding that requires Congressional authorization and appropriation every year.”

The Four Atoll Healthcare Program provides basic healthcare services and overall wellness programs for over 18,000 people from the four nuclear-affected atolls in the Marshall Islands.  The program covers dental services, women’s healthcare and cancer screening, diabetes screening and control, eye services in collaboration with the Canvas Back Eye Mission, immunization coverage, reduction of infant mortality, and surveillance of tuberculosis and leprosy.  The total requested for FY19 is $ 1,570,864.

Bikini, Enewetak, Rongelap, and Utrok are the four Marshall Islands atolls impacted by the nuclear weapons testing program carried out by the U.S. Department of Defense between 1946 and 1958. 

The Secretary of the Interior is responsible for coordinating federal policy with respect to the territories of the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and administering and overseeing U.S. federal assistance provided under the Compact of Free Association to the freely associated states of the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the Republic of Palau. The Assistant Secretary, Insular and International Affairs, executes these responsibilities, on behalf of the Secretary, through the Office of Insular Affairs whose mission is to foster economic opportunities, promote government efficiency, and improve the quality of life for the people of the insular areas.

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