Author: Padili Mikomangwa

The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) is stealing the life out of the billion-dollar tourism industry in Tanzania, the government has already laid out a warning that at about 477,000 jobs could be lost, while revenue will shrink by 77 per cent if the virus outbreak endures hurting people past October this year.

According to the Tanzanian ministry of tourism, the number of tourists arriving in Tanzania rose from 1.3 million in 2017 to 1.5 million in 2018, whereas this increment made the sector to garner $2.4 billion (7.2 per cent increase) compared to 2.3 billion in 2017.

This means that the forex earning sector could collapse as the virus outbreak takes various dynamics over time and space in Tanzania, thus currently health authorities reports indicated 480 people have contracted the virus and 16 people succumbed by the virus.

Tanzania is one of Africa’s leading tourism markets, with exotic landscapes of the …

Tanzania has taken the virus fight to another level this week, as the Tanzanian President John Magufuli promised to fetch the rather controversial Madagascan local herbs believed to cure the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) was fulfilled yesterday.

The Madagascan cure

According to information from The Citizen, and various images circulated in several news outlets, Tanzania’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation Prof Palamagamba Kabudi, landed in Antananarivo a few minutes after midday for the mission.

The Tanzanian minister and his host drunk the herbal medicine which is designated for lab testing before administering to patients national wide as argued by Magufuli last week.

Madagascar’s herbal cure named Covid Organics (CVO) which has received calls from World Health Organization (WHO) to subject it for clinical trials will also be analyzed and researched by the Tanzanian National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR).

“We are advising the government of Madagascar to take …

The East African coronavirus (COVID-19) battle has been fortified with $1.23 billion from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Both Kenya and Uganda have so far confirmed more than 600 cases of the virus.

COVID-19 Funding in Kenya

According to the IMF statement, on Wednesday the IMF Executive Board approved the disbursement of SDR542.8 million (100 per cent of quota, about US$739 million) to be drawn under the Rapid Credit Facility (RCF).

“This will help to meet Kenya’s urgent balance of payments need stemming from the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic,” The statement read in part.

The impact of COVID-19 on the Kenyan economy will be severe. It will act through both global and domestic channels, and downside risks remain large.

The Kenyan authorities have taken decisive action to respond to the pandemic’s health and economic impacts, the sudden shock has left Kenya with significant fiscal and external financing needs. Authorities …

Tanzania is one of East Africa’s nation battling the spread of coronavirus on a daily basis.

The country has now taken measures to curb the spread of the deadly virus, including acknowledging the role of traditional medicine and even reshuffling the health sector to bring new energy in winning against the virus.

Traditional Medicine

The novel coronavirus that has taken 16 lives and infected nearly 480 people in Tanzania, could be dealt with new support from the traditional medical landscape.

According to information from The Citizen, the Tanzanian National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR) has joined forces with the ministry of health to develop guidelines on how and what type of traditional medicines should be used for the treatment of the coronavirus (COVID-19).

The incorporation of traditional medicine came with critical support from the President John Magufuli and other influential legislators who argued for the right use of the traditional …

Digital supremacy has not only ended with space-technology and communication, but has made its way towards health. In this case, Tanzanian youth have used ingenuity in domesticating seamless digital solutions and in making sure essential health services are simplified.

It is the youth who are now innovating realistic and customized digital solutions that link pharmaceutical suppliers, manufacturers, importers and retailers in one system, to ensure pharmaceutical services are executed proficiently and in an organized manner.

The health sector in Tanzania, a nation with more than 55 million people,  whose Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 6.8 per cent in the third quarter (according to Bank of Tanzania Quarterly Bulletin), contributed less to the real GDP with only 0.7 per cent, still, its stakeholders strive to develop different spheres of the sector which is crucial for the nation’s welfare.

According to WHO, and UN Comtrade and Business Monitor, Tanzania’s pharmaceutical market …

Education in Tanzania has been gaining crucial technological changes over the past decades. The government of Tanzania has acknowledged the role of Information Communication Technology (ICT) in stimulating effective learning in the modern era, via its frameworks—communicated in the Education and Training Policy of 1995, and the national ICT policy of 2016 that both embody education technology in their own manner.

In this context, Tanzania’s innovation landscape is getting better as more young people take the helm to create solutions. In this case—MyElimu and Mtabe apps, which are customized education technology (platforms) offering seamless learning materials to secondary students across Tanzania via mobile phones are gaining traction.

The communication landscape in Tanzania is growing, and numbers show this growth could turn to be a gold mine for innovative solutions such as MyElimu.

According to information from Tanzania Communication Regulatory Authority (TCRA), internet penetration moved up from 40 per cent in …

Modern technology could be the most pristine breakthrough the human race has ever achieved, as more noble solutions come to light each day proving that—decent forms of labour can be attained if the digital economy wages its fair share of war into the sector, and Tanzania is the exemplary figure in this labour-related case.

Huduma Smart is not an ordinary startup.  It is a young, female-led enterprise that trains domestic workers and provides a job market for them via a tailored website, where employers can recruit workers of their choice per qualifications they desired and acceptability of a worker. More importantly, the startup provides health insurance and contracts to workers, among other necessities, to make their jobs respectable, a global missing recipe in the labour section.

The domestic labour landscape

It has been a custom for most average families and most of the middle-income households to require services from housemaids, …

Modern technology is the new normal; it is the currency for development in the 21st-century landscape, and for Tanzania, this means developing and launching solutions that decipher community problems including getting access to your local professional and proficient electrician, plumber, hairdresser or even IT expert.

In this case, Fundi Popote—a tailored web-based platform simplifies life by giving clients across Tanzania the liberty to book appointments with various sorts of highly-qualified fixers instantly to attend to their electrical, housing, plumbing or even computer-related problems.

Fundi Popote reveals how potential and digital-hungry Tanzania is, hence—the platform innovator, who is a young female ICT-enthusiast, who displays her talents well and shows how the nation of 55 million stands to benefit from community digital solutions.

Getting digital

Information and communications have been growing in Tanzania, as the number of people going online via their mobile phones hit 83 per cent out of 23 million …

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has taken a new shift in South Africa, as the nation of more than 58 million anticipates to ease down its lockdown with phased reopening after rolling in the strictest movement restriction in the region.

According to information from the Financial Times, the South African government is discussing a five-level alert system, facilitating the current president Cyril Ramaphosa administration to reopen the country with low risk of contracting the virus.

Currently, the situation in South Africa has taken another shift, as Bloomberg News reported according to the health ministry, South Africa has 5,350 confirmed cases as of Wednesday, 354 more than yesterday, while the number of deaths recorded was 103.

Also, the ministry revealed that 11,630 tests were conducted in the past 24 hours, adding up the number of tests to 197,127.

However, the South African agricultural exports are slated to resume operations under the new …

The coronavirus (COVDI-19) pandemic has taken a new shift in Tanzania, as new 196 cases confirmed by the Tanzanian Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa earlier today, the information he revealed pertaining the confirmed cases, include also figures announced by the health ministry of the semi-autonomous region of Tanzania, Zanzibar.

READ:COVID-19 in Tanzania:  Cases rise to 254; death toll hits 10

Further, the number of the deceased rose to 16 as six more people succumbed to the deadly and Zanzibar has confirmed 22 cases, according to the Prime Minister.

On April 24 the health minister Ummy Mwalimu announced the number of patients recovered from virus stood at 37, and through the past 6 days, the number of recovered patients rose to 167, whereas 36 are from Zanzibar and 83 are from mainland Tanzania.

The number of the confirmed cases have risen by nearly 69 per cent since the last time the …