Development Partners Support in Zimbabwe – Covid19.
Posted on 06 April, 2020 at 15:13
Chinese Foundation |
20 000 kits, 100 000 masks & 1 000 protective
suits |
United Kingdom |
US$2,193,000.00 + protective equipment valued at
US$129,390.00 |
Chinese Government |
Refurbishment of Wilkins Hospital + 3000 masks |
Global Fund |
US$25 000 000.00 support |
USA Government |
US$470 000.00 |
World Bank |
US$25 000 000.00 |
European Union |
US$41 420 000.00 |
Total |
US$ 94,212,390.00 20 000 testing kits 103 000 face masks 1 000 protective suits |
From the table
above one can see that most of the development partners that have quickly
responded to Zimbabwe’s SOS in the face of nCov19 pandemic have pledged funds
to help the government with preparation and containment programmes. A total of
$94.2 million has been acknowledged as received by the Ministry of Finance and
Economic Development as at 30 March 2020. However, it should be noted that
these funds will mostly be channeled through multilateral organisations support
systems, for instance, USAID or UNDP, instead of the coffers of the national
treasury.
The Jack Ma
Foundation (Chinese Foundation) has supported the nation, as it did with other
African countries, with very critical testing kits, bringing in a massive 20
000 of those, 100 000 masks and 1 000 protective suits especially for the
medical staff who will be at the battlefront, absorbing all the pressure of the
pandemic. The Chinese Government complimented Mr Jack Ma’s efforts by adding 3
000 more masks, after their significant support to refurbish Wilkins Hospital,
which is at the moment, the country’s main referral hospital for nCov19
suspected and confirmed cases.
The country is
still a long way from being fully positioned to contain all new cases of the
virus, and still to roll-out their massive testing campaign, having managed to
test only 316 individuals, as at 2 April 2020. So much still needs to be done
with regards with bringing the nation to s state of readiness, without which
the already hunger-drained population will face a terrible time. The health
workers are still lacking in their requirements for basic PPE, which allows
them to handle patients of the highly infectious virus. The hospitals still
need to be upgraded and refurbished to not only increase their capacity, but
install some basic infrastructure like power alternatives, ventilators,
continuous water supply or ambulance services. The price of the in-demand
hygiene products like hand sanitizers is beyond the reach of majority of the
Zimbabwean population, thus making it difficult to ensure that the virus
doesn’t spread.
The Zimbabwean government has also made a number of moves to compliment the development partners, though the public opinion would be that they could have done way better.
The government
has unfrozen about 4000 health sector posts to allow for more manpower at the
battle front, and also created an additional 200 new ones. They have also
assisted the troubled national medical aid parastatal (PSMAS) with 50 million
RTGS dollars to capacitate it in such a critical time. To add to that, the government has committed
to assist one million of the most vulnerable people in our communities with
ZWL$200.00 per month for the next 3 months.
The infamous 2%
IMTT tax has been redirect to cater for the mitigation of the effects of
Covid19 and duties on all goods regarded as essential as far as the pandemic is
concerned have been waived. This is perhaps a welcome development especially
for those looking to bring in the much-needed equipment and sundries for the
hospitals. The master stroke for the government was their availing ZWL$500
million towards the fight for Covid19. This however has not been elaborated as
how it shall be expensed and on which specific items. A lot more can still be done, a lot more need
to be done. This too shall pass.