The World Bank has lauded Tanzania’s COVID-19 response policies.
According to the article, the World Bank lauded Tanzania for not duplicating policies implemented in other more advanced countries in response to COVID-19. This is apparently in reference to the lockdowns and restrictions on movement instituted by South Africa, Ghana, Rwanda and Kenya in response to the disease., The article claims that this statement was published in Africa’s Pulse, the World Bank’s biannual economic update on the region, and questions the suitability and effectiveness of some of the policies instituted by the countries mentioned., This is due to the fact that the majority of the labour force in the region (the article claims 92.4%) is composed of informal workers, who would be adversely affected by any restrictions on movement., In contrast with the other countries, Tanzania had not instituted a restriction of movement at the time this article was published. The country’s borders remained open, with a policy of strict testing and 14 days’ quarantine for all arrivals., However, the World Bank made no such statement on Tanzania’s COVID-19 response., The 21st edition of Africa’s Pulse was launched on April 9, highlighting the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the region’s economy and offering recommendations for action by governments., In a statement issued from its Washington, DC headquarters on April 14, 2020, the World Bank denied the claim that Africa’s Pulse assessed Tanzania’s response to COVID-19. The statement read in part, “In this report, the World Bank does not make specific mention or assessment of Tanzania’s COVID-19 response”., The report states that the COVID-19 pandemic is likely to substantially weaken growth in the West African Economic and Monetary Union and the East African Community. The report does not focus on any country’s specific interventions, but looks at broader structural issues such as access to health, investment in public services and overall exposure of the Sub-Saharan African region to potential price shocks and falling commodity prices., PesaCheck has looked into the claim that the World Bank Group has applauded Tanzania’s unique approaches to contain the COVID-19 in the latest edition of its regional economic update Africa’s Pulse finds it to be FALSE., This post is part of an ongoing series of PesaCheck fact-checks examining content marked as potential misinformation on Facebook and other social media platforms., By partnering with Facebook and similar social media platforms, third-party fact-checking organizations like PesaCheck are helping to sort fact from fiction. We do this by giving the public deeper insight and context to posts they see in their social media feeds., Have you spotted what you think is fake news or false information on Facebook? Here’s how you can report. And, here’s more information on PesaCheck’s methodology for fact-checking questionable content., This fact-check was written by PesaCheck Fact-Checker Najma Juma, and edited by PesaCheck Chief Copy Editor Rose Lukalo., The article was approved for publication by PesaCheck Managing Editor Eric Mugendi., PesaCheck is East Africa’s first public finance fact-checking initiative. It was co-founded by Catherine Gicheru and Justin Arenstein and is being incubated by the continent’s largest civic technology and data journalism accelerator: Code for Africa. It seeks to help the public separate fact from fiction in public pronouncements about the numbers that shape our world, with a special emphasis on pronouncements about public finances that shape government’s delivery of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) public services, such as healthcare, rural development and access to water/sanitation. PesaCheck also tests the accuracy of media reportage. To find out more about the project, visit pesacheck.org., PesaCheck is a joint initiative of Code for Africa, through its innovate African fund, with additional funding support from the International Budget Partnership (Kenya) and Twaweza, in partnership with a coalition of local media organizations, and the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ)., Written by, Written by
FALSE: The World Bank has not lauded Tanzania’s COVID-19 response strategy