Africa-Press – Eritrea. THE United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has underscored the need for increased budget allocations for improvement of services in social development sector.
This was said by the UNICEF Communication Specialist Usia Nkhoma when she was presenting a paper on the need for a friendly children budget.
The UNICEF official was presenting a paper to the Parliamentary budget committee. She mentioned education, health, water and sanitation, hygiene, nutrition and HIV as priority areas that need attention.
She said despite increased efforts to improve social services, the report recommended more budget allocation for speedy development.
“Also, there is a need for increased budget allocation for improving access to safe water, sanitation, and hygiene to reduce infectious diseases as well as more financing for HIV prevention,” she said.
“We are just about to endorse the 2022/23 budget, we know you have a key role in making it happen for increased domestic resource allocations and expenditure for nutrition interventions and to support education through digital learning and infrastructure as well” said Ms Nkhoma.
She said Unicef advocates for increased human resources in social sectors to ensure all staff are skilled, motivated and retained to increase efficiency.
Despite the implications of the Covid-19 pandemic she said Tanzania recorded positive economic growth.
However, she said, the Covid-19 pandemic has underscored the importance of hygiene as a first-line defence against infectious disease.
Despite the steady progress over the years, coverage of basic sanitation and hygiene nationally remains 30 and 48 per cent, respectively.
“Although there is significant progress made in scaling access to basic drinking water, at 61 per cent nationally, there are many water sources especially in rural areas that need improvement to address poor water quality,” she said.
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