Tunis and UN-Habitat agency sign MOU
A memorandum of understanding will today be signed between the UN Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) and the municipality of Tunis. UN Habitat focuses on sustainable development within urban settings.
Simultaneously, the “Karamati” project, a programme to improve public health facilities for women and children in the capital, will be announced.
The public health system across the country was completely overwhelmed by COVID, and has struggled to improve since. In recent months, there have been increasing reports of Tunisians travelling to Europe to buy vital medicines no longer available inside Tunisia, where more than 300 medicines are in short supply.
This comes amidst a backdrop of deepening economic woe for the African nation. This summer the country’s credit rating was downgraded again, to CCC-, increasing Tunisia’s likelihood of default.
Tunisia’s government will be mindful not to see a repeat of the violent demonstrations of two years prior, where protesters expressed anger at the deterioration of the country’s health system. These announcements and UN support should lead to improvements in time. However, this issue is not limited to Tunis; more work will be required to ensure the entire country’s health system is restored. Moreover, without the restoration of economic health, long term strengthening is unlikely.
