COVID-19: The World Bank approves a $5 million grant to Strengthen Burundi Health System
The Briefing Issue #72, Tuesday, April 14, 2020
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Dear RegionWeek Reader,
This Tuesday, Domitien Ndihokubwayo, the Burundi Minister of Finance and Véronique Kabongo, the representative of the World Bank in Burundi signed a financing agreement for a five million grant from the International Development Association (IDA).
The donation will help Burundi cope with the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic and strengthen the preparation of national health systems, reads the press release published this Tuesday.
"This support will help the government’s efforts in putting systems in place for preparedness, treatment, and containment of COVID-19. This is particularly important as it will strengthen Burundi’s public health system in this highly rural and densely populated country," said Jean-Christophe Carret, director of WB operations for Burundi, in this press release. , the DRC, the Republic of Congo and the Central African Republic.
According to him, this funding is very important because, "it will strengthen the public health system in Burundi, a very rural and densely populated country. This funding will also, according to Carret, train health personnel and provide equipment to laboratories at the national level and in local communities.
This donation from World Bank comes at a time when Burundi has already registered five cases of coronavirus, including one death.
READ ALSO: Key facts you should know about the Burundi Health System
The World Bank Group is acting to step up support as countries respond to the COVID-19 crisis and face a wide range of consequences, including the risk of a global recession.
Given the unprecedented challenges that COVID-19 poses, the Bank Group expects to deploy up to $160 billion over the next 15 months to help countries protect the poor and vulnerable, support businesses, and bolster economic recovery.
Through financing and a wide range of technical support, the Bank Group will work to help countries shorten their time to recovery and lay the foundations for future growth. And across all the efforts to combat COVID-19, the focus will be on solutions that can help countries ensure protection and restore opportunities for their poorest and most vulnerable people.
The International Development Association (IDA) is the World Bank’s fund for the poorest. Established in 1960, it provides grants and low to zero-interest loans for projects and programs that boost economic growth, reduce poverty, and improve poor people’s lives.
The World Bank has been supporting Burundi's development efforts since 1957. Its engagement is based on the Country Partnership Framework (CPF) for Burundi for the period 2019 to 2023, which aims to boost economic growth in order to halve the poverty rate, by improving human capital (maternal and child health, education, employment, etc.) and promoting social inclusion.
It currently finances 10 national and four regional projects to the tune of $713.45 million through grants from the International Development Association (IDA), the World Bank's fund for the poorest countries. These projects are involved in a number of different areas.
Fabrice Iranzi,
Editor, RegionWeek.com
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IN THE REGION
East African Community
EAC Secretariat urges Partner States to prepare economic recovery plans for the time after COVID-19. The East African Community Secretariat calls upon the Partner States to immediately commence developing National Economic Recovery Plans. The East African Community Secretariat has finalized an EAC COVID-19 Response Plan and is developing the EAC Recovery Strategy based on a regional approach.
“While many people have already lost their jobs and are struggling to feed their families, there is a window of opportunity to prepare for the time after COVID-19 and to prevent another catastrophe”, says Honourable Christophe Bazivamo, Deputy Secretary-General in charge of Productive and Social Sectors, EAC Secretariat.
He especially urged the Partner States to strengthen their food production systems by allowing farming activities to continue. He further emphasized that the Partner States should more than ever before promoting the use of technology and digital solutions to improve agriculture production and trade in agriculture products.
COMESA
According to an analytical report prepared by the Governance, Peace, and Security (GPS) Programme at COMESA Secretariat, with the outbreak and the global spread of the Coronavirus, the looming socio-economic and political ramifications will be severe, it is apparent that governance, peace, and security, both at the national and regional levels will be impacted in several ways. This is because of the costly but necessary measures that have been established to contain the spread.
“With the Coronavirus raising concerns about close contact and individual health safety, the elections scheduled for this year in countries such as Malawi, Burundi, and Seychelles are likely to be postponed to later dates, while in some cases, indefinitely,” the report says, noting that Ethiopia has already postponed both presidential and parliamentary elections.
The postponement of elections, unless well managed, could raise anxiety among the political players and the electorates as has happened in the past, especially where the stakes are high,” the Report further notes. “The situation is further likely to impact on campaigns and subsequently on voter turnout even after the COVID-19 is contained.”
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