Mr Nathan Belete is an Ethiopian national and a development professional with over 25 years of work experience across Africa, East Asia, and South Asia, it said in a statement.
He was previously the WB’s country director for Cabo Verde, The Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Mauritania, and Senegal, based in Dakar.
Mr Belete will be based in Dar es Salaam from where he will oversee a portfolio of about $12.5 billion in total commitments for the four countries.
“This support covers priority areas of human capital, agriculture, infrastructure, private sector development, climate, and gender, among others,” it stated.
Prior to Mr Belete’s country director assignments, he managed the World Bank’s Food and Agriculture Global Practice in the East Asia and Pacific Region, based in Vietnam, from 2014 to 2019.
Prior to that, he was the sector manager for the WB’s Sustainable Development Department in Indonesia.
His career at the WB has included assignments in the WB’s country offices in Nairobi, New Delhi, and Beijing with responsibilities for investments and technical assistance activities in agriculture and rural development, among others.
Share this news
This Year’s Most Read News Stories
John Okello: From Zanzibar revolution icon to street beggar
In the final episode, we look at Okello’s ban in Tanganyika, rejection in Kenya tragic end in Uganda.Continue Reading
Fast Satellite Internet in Kenya by June
Elon Musk’s satellite Internet firm Starlink announced it will launch in Kenya in the second quarter of this year.Continue Reading
Tanzania Declares End of Marburg Virus Disease Outbreak
Tanzania today declared the end of Marburg virus disease outbreak after recording no new cases over 42 days since the death of the last confirmed case on 28 January 2025.
The outbreak, in which two confirmed and eight probable cases were recorded (all deceased), was the second the country has experienced. Both this outbreak, which was declared on 20 January 2025, and the one in 2023 occurred in the north-eastern Kagera region.
In response to the latest outbreak, Tanzania’s health authorities set up coordination and response systems, with support from World Health Organization (WHO) and partners, at the national and regional levels and reinforced control measures to swiftly detect cases, enhance clinical care, infection prevention as well as strengthen collaboration with communities to raise awareness and help curb further spread of the virus.
Growing expertise in public health emergency response in the African region has been crucial in mounting effective outbreak control measures. Drawing on experience from the response to the 2023 Marburg virus disease outbreak, WHO worked closely with Tanzanian health authorities to rapidly scale up key measures such as disease surveillance and trained more than 1000 frontline health workers in contact tracing, clinical care and public health risk communication. The Organization also delivered over five tonnes of essential medical supplies and equipment.
“The dedication of frontline health workers and the efforts of the national authorities and our partners have paid off,” said Dr Charles Sagoe-Moses, WHO Representative in Tanzania. “While the outbreak has been declared over, we remain vigilant to respond swiftly if any cases are detected and are supporting ongoing efforts to provide psychosocial care to families affected by the outbreak.”
Building on the momentum during the acute phase of the outbreak response, measures have been put in place to reinforce the capacity of local health facilities to respond to potential future outbreaks. WHO and partners are procuring additional laboratory supplies and other equipment for disease detection and surveillance and other critical services.
Marburg virus disease is highly virulent and causes haemorrhagic fever. It belongs to the same family as the virus that causes Ebola virus disease. Illness caused by Marburg virus begins abruptly. Patients present with high fever, severe headache and severe malaise. They may develop severe haemorrhagic symptoms within seven days.
In the African region, previous outbreaks and sporadic cases have been reported in Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Kenya, Equatorial Guinea, Rwanda, South Africa and Uganda.
Source: allafrica.com
