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.