Interior’s Office of Insular Affairs Announces $1.8 Million for the Four Atoll Healthcare Program in the Marshall Islands

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of the Interior’s Office of Insular Affairs (OIA) has
announced $1,876,297 in fiscal year (FY) 2022 Technical Assistance Program (TAP) funding to
the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) Ministry of Health and Human Services for the Four
Atoll Healthcare Program. The program provides primary healthcare services for communities
from the four nuclear-affected atolls of Bikini, Enewetak, Rongelap, and Utrok in the Marshall
Islands.

“This funding provides important preventive and screening healthcare services support each year
to the peoples of four atolls in the Marshall Islands that were affected by the U.S. nuclear testing
program from 1946 to 1958. We are pleased to announce that this year’s funding includes the
addition of vital dental services in these communities,” said Deputy Assistant Secretary for
Insular and International Affairs Keone Nakoa. “OIA provides this continued support on
behalf of the U.S. government as part of our ongoing partnership with the people of the Marshall
Islands.”

The FY 2022 TAP funding provided to the Four Atoll Healthcare Program will support clinics
that serve the nuclear-affected communities on Majuro, Mejatto, Kili, Enewetak, and Utrok. For
the peoples of Enewetak and Utrok, as well as the dislocated peoples of Bikini and Rongelap,
these clinics provide primary and ancillary healthcare services including support for women’s
and children wellness, vision, vaccinations, screening for communicable diseases, and education
and outreach on non-communicable diseases such as diabetes and hypertension. Funding this
year includes an increase to support a dentist and dental equipment.

OIA has provided TAP funding assistance to the Four Atoll Healthcare Program, also referred to
as the Section 177 Healthcare Program, every year since 2005. Bikini, Rongelap, Enewetak, and
Utrok are the four atolls in the Republic of the Marshall Islands recognized by the United States
as impacted by the nuclear weapons testing program. The populations of these atolls, including
the still-dislocated populations of Bikini and Rongelap live throughout the Marshall Islands and
in the United States.

As authorized and appropriated pursuant to 48 U.S.C. 1469(d), OIA’s Technical Assistance
Program has been used to continue funding under the Four Atoll Healthcare Program identified
in the Section 177 Agreement under Article II, Section 1 of the Compact of Free Association
(P.L. 108-188), that expired after the initial 15-year period under which this program was first
funded.

For more news related to the Office of Insular Affairs, please visit:
https://www.doi.gov/oia/press-releases.

The Assistant Secretary of Insular and International Affairs and the Office of Insular Affairs
(OIA) carry out the Secretary of the Interior’s responsibilities for the U.S. territories of American
Samoa, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Additionally, OIA administers and oversees federal assistance under the Compacts of Free
Association to the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the
Republic of Palau. OIA also administers a discretionary Technical Assistance Program for all
the insular areas. Find information about OIA and its work on www.doi.gov/oia, Facebook,
Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.

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