dominican republic

Country: Dominican Republic

Capital City: Santo Domingo

Area: 48,671 sq. km 

Population: 10,878,246 1

Life Expectancy: male: 69.7 years female: 73.1 years (2018 est.)

Currency: Dominican peso

Major Language: Spanish

SANTO DOMINGO, SEPTEMBER 2, 2022 (MIC) -

Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Dominican Republic has been party to 43 international cooperation initiatives valued at US$37,605,047.

MIC was exclusively provided with data in support of this by the Directorate for Analysis and Coordination of International Cooperation of the Vice Ministry of International Cooperation of the Ministry of Economy, Planning and Development (MEPyD).

Nineteen of these projects have an execution period of at least one year and 17 between one and three years. In addition, 278 specific grants were provided as donations in kind, technical support, and some financial contributions.

Of the 43 cooperation initiatives related to COVID-19, 67% were oriented towards health and social security, and social protection and assistance. They also included support for institutional strengthening, productive sectors, especially agriculture, micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), and tourism.

In summary, the primary interventions on these issues revolved around the following:

• Social protection: support for the performance of diagnoses and the detection of the needs of impoverished households and vulnerable populations for the implementation of actions appropriate to the context of the pandemic (SEIA Red-Actúa system, linkage of Adaptive Social Protection to the emergency response system), incorporation of lessons learned to improve the response to the crisis, economic recovery, and livelihoods of households, promotion of the permanence of boys, girls, and adolescents in schools.

• Health and social security: support and strengthening of the capacities of the health sector to respond to the pandemic, including interventions aimed at the epidemiological surveillance system, support for the vaccination programme, and strategy for the prevention of Covid transmission in schools, among others.

• Institutional strengthening: the creation of knowledge and production of inputs on the challenges of the pandemic, evaluations in fiscal matters, management of disinformation, and exchange of lessons learned in response to COVID-19 in the Caribbean region.

• Productive sectors: support for the recovery of tourism; small agricultural producers and MSMEs; Risk analysis of the food system in the country, strengthening the competitiveness of the sector through support for the Agricultural Health and Innovation Programme, among others.

Greater emphasis on initiatives in health and social security and protection and social assistance coincides with the general trend of cooperation directed to the country, beyond the context of the pandemic.

Like many initiatives aimed at creating response capacities (interventions for creating and exchanging knowledge, institutional strengthening, human capital), public institutions and employees benefited the most as a direct impact group (26).

From protection and social assistance and health and social security, actions were promoted for the benefit of specific population groups, recognising people in poverty, women heads of household, people with disabilities, students, minors, and migrants.

Some initiatives that supported productive sectors included a thrust to either include women or were directed exclusively to this section of the population. Examples are to be found in the tourism, MSMEs, and agricultural sectors.

Donations

For the most part (128), the support received was allocated to health and social security institutions, followed by the institutions responsible for social protection and assistance (57).

The analysis compiled for this report by the researchers’ Aris Balbuena and Yafreisy Acevedo indicates that in-kind support was predominant (183), followed by technical support (42). To a lesser extent, financial resources were granted for an approximate value of US$16,917,292.

• Most of the donations for COVID-19 were used for acquiring or delivering medical supplies, personal protective equipment and disinfectants, medicines, and food, among others. The medical support was mainly for the health sector, but the hygiene and protection kits were also delivered to the population and food.

• Various workshops were also held, and methodologies and protocols were created to adapt to the “new reality.” Support was received for the creation of knowledge/collection of information through surveys for decision-making.

Most of the donations were channelled through multilateral organisations (149) including UNDP, PAHO/WHO, UNICEF, WFP, and UNHCR – the country’s principal institutional benefactors in the key areas.

It is important to emphasise that what is shared in the data matrix of the Directorate for Analysis and Coordination of International Cooperation does not represent all the cooperation received by the country but is limited only to the initiatives registered in the Information System of the MEPyD.

Lety Melgen, director of Analysis and Coordination of International Cooperation of the MEPyD, however advised that not all support was directed to public institutions. Non-governmental organisations benefited, once it was assessed that there were potential synergies and projects were effectively delivered.

“We do not have all the information of all the actors, for example, the NGOs and the sub-registration of the projects that the sectoral ones execute. Barely two years ago, we implemented a cooperation information system that we have been feeding year after year, asking the sector companies to report to us the cooperation projects they are beneficiaries of,” explains Melgen. 

“Many times, it happens that they do not report all the information because what they are are tangential beneficiaries, and the one who executes the project is the NGO. So, for example, USAID has significant support issues, but those are not resources that reach public institutions.”

Melgen explains that it was not that the pandemic drew attention to new issues, but that it deepened them. “We have not sat down to analyse how much the covid situation impacted the agenda, but there was not such a strong shift in recovery projects,” she says.

Both Melgen and Balbuena agree that there are many institutional strengthening projects aimed at central institutions, but there was not a dramatic increase in projects in the field of resilience.

Some initiatives of international cooperation gathered by the Ministry of Economy.

Without a doubt, the most beneficial foreign aid that Dominican society could identify was that related to the purchase of vaccines. For example, economist Nassim Alemany reports that the financial support and donations of medical supplies that the country received at the beginning of the pandemic contributed to supporting the government’s efforts to counteract the effects of the virus and helped to mitigate the magnitude of negative impacts on the economy and the population.

“Now, it is easy to evaluate and judge the measures taken, but at that time, despite being aggressive, there is no doubt that they were necessary,” says Alemany. “Using these tools allowed us to keep the economy afloat, that companies could continue operating, that citizens could cover their basic needs, and that the shock produced by the global economic standstill affected as little as possible.”

According to economist Miguel Collado, spending directed at businesses and households helped entrepreneurs and workers to navigate the crisis better. Additionally, aid to companies to keep employees and transfers to families played an important role. However, Collado does not see as positive that transfers were expanded through the Supérate programme.

Regarding cheap credit, for the economist, it was a measure that helped some but introduced a veil that distorted investment and borrowing decisions. “When interest rates are artificially lowered, companies and households make riskier decisions than those they would take under normal conditions. Then, by raising rates, as is currently happening, you see the consequences. These consequences are added to inflation because the same credit expansion has contributed to the internal component of the increase in prices,” says Collado.

External entities

As for international organisations, exclusive information provided for this report by United Nations sources in the Dominican Republic explains that 2021 represented the fourth and penultimate year of implementation of the United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) for the Dominican Republic covering the period 2018 to 2022.

As of 2020, part of the UN's efforts was redirected to support the country in responding to the crisis and the socioeconomic recovery of the most vulnerable sectors and populations.

In the country, the UN foresaw the need for US$188.07 million to implement the UNDAF for 2018-2022. At the end of 2021, US$144.3 million had been spent since 2018, which represents 77% of the total budget, leaving 23% to be executed in its final year, in line with the trend of execution of the previous two years, corresponding to 22% and 24% in 2020 and 2021, respectively.

For 2021, the programmed funds amounted to US$54.2 million. 83% of said programming was executed, corresponding to US$44.9 million.

The results and contributions made by the UN in 2021 through its agencies, funds, and programmes according to the three major strategic contribution areas defined in the United Nations Development Assist.

Economy

In May of this year, President Luis Abinader received a visit from International Monetary Fund (IMF) representatives on the occasion of Article IV Consultations held annually with member countries. 

Esteban Vesperoni, Head of Mission, stated that the IMF’s assessment of the performance of the Dominican economy was positive, “demonstrating remarkable resilience, due in large part to the correct response that has been sequenced in monetary and fiscal policy in the country.” 

In addition, the IMF highlighted the creation of the Resilience and Sustainability Fund, comprising surplus funds from the Special Drawing Rights contributed by developed economies – a measure conceived to support actions against climate change and improve preparation for pandemics in the member countries of the IMF, especially middle-income states such as the Dominican Republic.

For the economist Miguel Collado Di Franco, the main strength of the Dominican economy is its diversification. It does not depend so much on a single sector as in other Latin American economies where production of raw materials dominate. In this sense, the recovery took less time than expected.

However, according to Collado, the management of public finances, the rigidities in the labour market, and the high costs inherent in the economy are weaknesses that must be corrected in the future.

“A better fiscal position would allow present and future taxpayers to face another crisis of a similar cause or a natural phenomenon with less cost. With fiscal surpluses, it would be possible to build a fiscal stabilisation fund for cases in which tax revenues are reduced, as happened during 2020,” he says.

As of the first semester of 2022, a fiscal deficit of 0.6% of GDP has been registered, higher than that recorded in the same period of 2021 (0.04% of GDP). According to official analyses, this results largely from actions to counteract the upward dynamics of international prices through the provision of subsidies that protect the purchasing power of citizens.

Regarding remittances, the Central Bank reports that between January and June 2022, US$4,861.1 million were received. This amount exceeds US$1,403.7 million of the remittances received in the first six months of 2019, the period before the start of the pandemic.

In June, the national currency gained value against the US dollar, for a year-on-year decrease in the exchange rate of 3.7%, with an accelerated rate of appreciation compared to March and April. At the end of August, the currency traded on average at 53 pesos per dollar monthly. In the rest of 2022, the average exchange rate is expected to be 56.6 pesos per dollar, for a projected appreciation of 1.17%.

In his accountability speech on August 16, 2022, the president assured that the Dominican Republic does not look at what others do but that many countries see its example and want to replicate it.

“This government action aimed at quickly overcoming the consequences of COVID-19 allowed us to reopen our economy and our productive sectors faster than most countries, to the point that the WHO invited us to speak of the Dominican experience as a model of global success,” assured Abinader.

The president also said that the war unleashed by Russia's invasion of Ukraine affected the economy’s good performance. However, a macroeconomic situation report from the Ministry of Economy and Planning indicates that the latest updates from international organisations forecast, on average, global economic growth of 3.1% (a downward adjustment) for both 2022 and 2023. 

On balance, The risk category includes the persistence of the Russia-Ukraine war, inflationary pressures, China's radical confinement policy, and its implications for public policies.

For this report, sources from the United Nations in the Dominican Republic indicate that “although the money transfers and the measures taken by the government mitigated the impact of the pandemic on the most vulnerable population, the general monetary poverty rate increased in 2021 to almost 24%.”, (i.e., more than 72,000 people in a situation of widespread economic poverty).

For months, the possibility of introducing tax reform has been raised, which has been rejected by various social sectors because the population cannot bear more tax burdens.

Inflation

Between April 2020 and July 2022, the accumulated prices in the country were 22.2%, which represents an equal decrease for those households that suffer the effects of inflation but have not been able to increase their income.

Regarding this situation, Luis Vargas, economist, says that those who say that inflation is imported have not studied economics. Vargas assures that the one who promoted the importation of crucial goods in the Dominican Republic is the Central Bank, which does not fully understand that its policy is contradictory.

“The Bank lowered the exchange rate from 60 pesos to a dollar and took it to 55 or 54. We are talking about a tax imposed on Dominican workers who send remittances to their relatives in the DR. We should not have incurred that policy. That exchange rate favors those who produce in pesos and have to remit in dollars and buy products in dollars,” says Vargas.

For example, J.A., a mother of three and a state employee, believes inflation is swallowing up income. “The handling of the pandemic was excellent, but we must stop talking about it now because we are going through 2022, and Abinader wants to continue mentioning how well they handled it,” says the young woman.

While C.C, owner of a medium-sized company, explains that inflation and gasoline prices will kill small businesspeople. “Before, I used to buy $4K for two weeks, and now that’s not enough for a single one,” she says. “As a businesswoman, it’s very frustrating because everything goes up. You have to increase prices, which customers don’t like, and you feel powerless because what you pay your collaborators doesn’t work for them anymore.”

One of the sectors most affected by the hikes is electricity. For example, in the face of numerous complaints on social networks and protests against electricity distributors, the Superior Administrative Court accepted a contentious administrative appeal annulling a resolution of the Superintendence of Electricity designating an increase in the transition rates to be applied for November and December 2021.

In July 2022, the Government reported that it would propose to the Economic and Social Council the readjustment of the Electric Pact to stop imminent increases in the electricity rate, which are scheduled to be implemented every three months.

To understand the magnitude of the impact of the rise in electricity bills, in the April-June quarter of this year alone, Protecom, a department authorised by the Superintendence of Electricity, registers more than 9,207 claims from users who complain of overbilling and other variables to which are added the blackouts experienced by the Electricity Distribution Companies.

Economist Miguel Collado says that inflation affected many companies with cost increases that they could not compensate for with price increases that can match the first. “The Dominican government has increased its income due to higher price levels to which certain taxes such as ITBIS, selective taxes, and tariffs are applied,” explains Collado.

Among the ten measures announced by the Government to combat inflation, the following stand out:

1. Subsidise fuels while the price of the West Texas Index is above US$85 per barrel and below US$115.

2. Increase the direct subsidy programme for the transportation sector implemented by the National Institute of Traffic and Passenger Transportation.

3. Urgently send to the National Congress a bill to reduce to zero percent the tariffs applied at the border to imports of the essential products of the basic basket of goods.

4. Subsidise up to 10% imports of corn, wheat, soybeans, flour, and vegetable fat for six months.

5. Increase the amounts invested in social spending by 2% of GDP, representing an additional 150 billion pesos.

6. Continue with the policy of targeted subsidies that have been implemented since 2021, such as special food sales programmes, including the increase in transfers to the Supérate card, the increase in the Bono Gas subsidy, the expansion of food rations, food in the “cheap dining rooms”, the installation of more popular markets of INESPRE and doubling its warehouses for the direct sale of products in the country.

According to Naiomis Tejada, a journalist, price increases make quality-price questionable to buy a product and consume it.

“And not only in the basic basket but in all the services and products we acquire. For example, now with the purchase of school supplies, if they gave you a set of pencils with an eraser and sharpener, only the pencils come, and the price is higher”, explains Tejeda.

Other professionals, such as Elvira Rodríguez, consider that inflation damages the basic basket, health commitments, commerce, and, above all, “the quality of life of each person,” further distancing the economic and social development of the country. While Nadelyn Franco believes that food has become more expensive and that causes even the quality of the products to be put on the line to be able to buy “a little more” and that other needs are postponed because they cannot be covered.

SANTO DOMINGO, June 01, 2022 (MIC) -

Picking up the pieces

Although severely affected by the coronavirus pandemic —with numbers of cases and deaths that surpassed those of most other Caribbean nations, the Dominican Republic appears tentatively set for economic and health recovery.

An example of the latter is the different actions taken by both the government and private companies to recover sectors such as tourism and agriculture. Meanwhile, according to the Central Bank, the increase in remittances sent by the Dominican diaspora (with figures higher than those before the pandemic) contributed to this growth.

Undoubtedly, the pandemic affected all sectors of national life, and one of the most impacted was the economy.

For example, according to data from the Vice Minister of Planning of the Ministry of Economy, Planning, and Development (MEPyD), Pavel Isa Contreras, the total cost of the pandemic in the Dominican economy between March and December 2020, was $18.4 billion distributed in:

• $14.8 billion from the productive sectors.

• $3.6 billion in associated costs and expenses ($3.4 billion for health and social protection).

Regarding the labour sector, government estimates confirm that 359,000 jobs were lost in the second quarter of 2020. In comparison, public debt increased by US$8.68 billion.

Another of the most significant impacts of the pandemic were rising poverty levels. The Bulletin of Official Statistics of Monetary Poverty in the Dominican Republic 2021 indicated that despite the end of restrictive measures and economic and employment recovery, the increase in inflation negatively impacted real household income in 2021.

Meanwhile, poverty rates went from 3.51% in 2020 to 3.06% in 2021. General poverty moved from 23.36% to 23.85%.

The pandemic hit women hard. For example, according to the MEPyD study, the general poverty gap between both sexes widened, going from 2.57 percent points (p.p.) to 3.97 p.p. difference between men and women. Similarly, in 2021, the rate of femininity in people aged 25 to 59 was 150 women in poverty for every 100 men (12 more than in 2020).

Remittances

Remittances sent by overseas Dominicans constitute the basis for the recovery of the economy, reaching more than $10 billion only in 2021. In the first two months of 2022, they exceeded what was collected by the National Treasury and the General Directorate of Customs in the same period last year.

According to the Central Bank, DR received flows of $3,206.1 in January-April. In April alone, remittances totaled $809.8 million. In addition to the United States, Dominicans received remittances from countries such as Spain (5.9%), Haiti and Italy (1.2%), Switzerland, Canada, and Panama.

Recovery actions

A report by the Inter-American Development Bank explained that the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Nicaragua reached the level of economic activity they had in 2019.

What were the recovery actions?

In February 2022, President Luis Abinader declared that 2021 was an intense year of work. Overcoming the pandemic and the economic crisis and the recovery and generation of new jobs constituted two of the main objectives.

“In just one year, we have managed to bring the country back to normal. We have overcome the pandemic, being an example for the world. Moreover, we are the fastest growing economy in Latin America,” said Abinader in his accountability speech before the National Assembly.

The MEPyD’s poverty bulletin highlighted the fact that the general monetary poverty rate would be higher if not for government transfers. For example, upon assuming power in August 2020, the new government ordered the extension of the FASE and Quédate en casa mitigation programmes. In addition, the amount of the subsidy for Comer es Primero component was doubled, from $14 (RD$825) per month to $29 (RD$1,650) per month.

Previously, in March 2022, the Presidency reported a subsidy for imports of corn, wheat, soybeans, flour, and vegetable fat) to mitigate global inflation. In addition, direct social assistance increased with the delivery of more than 300,000 Supérate cards.

The Price Stabilization Institute received specialized funds to supply food at low prices. While the president of the Rice Factory, Fausto Pimentel, assured that more than 30,000 Dominican producers maintained their crops during the start of the pandemic.

Tourism

On May 10, 2022, the World Tourism Organization recognized the DR as the number one country in the world in tourism recovery. During the recognition, Zurab Pololikashvili, general secretary of the organisation, said the Dominican tourism model stands out “for achieving the most successful recovery of the industry, reaching record figures in the arrival of tourists.”

Tourism was one of the sectors most impacted by COVID-19. Hotel manager, Yvanna Peña, assured that although at the beginning of the pandemic, the room vacancies were not felt so much after the total closure of flights, everything was chaos. “Tourists suddenly canceled reservations. The employees were left adrift, and the small hoteliers almost disappeared,” she said.

Peña however believes that the sector has recovered slowly but steadily and that “by 2023 and 2024, we will be in better conditions.”

According to data from the Ministry of Tourism, the country closed the first quarter of 2022 with 1.71 million tourist arrivals - the highest figure since the pandemic. Furthermore, Minister David Collado has forecasted that the numbers before the pandemic would be exceeded this year, and they will receive seven million international tourists.

“We launched the internal tourism campaign with the Banco de Reservas and Banco Popular with one year of interest-free financing. With this, what were we looking for? That we start moving the wheel. The first weekend, the hotels were completely packed, and internal tourism began to mean 40 to 50% of hotel occupancies on weekends, and today it represents between 15 and 20%,” Collado said.

Another crucial aspect in the recovery of tourism was the financing of Dominican banks for the tourism sector between 2019 and 2021. According to the Association of Multiple Banks of the Dominican Republic (ABA), financing accumulated 48.9% (with a balance of RD$85,087 million).

Small enterprises

Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) were affected by the pandemic and the war between Russia and Ukraine. However, little by little, this sector is recovering.

In an interview with Luis Miura, president of the Dominican Confederation of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (Codopyme), he assured that the MSME sector is remarkably resilient.

“We live from crisis to crisis, so the pandemic is another crisis. However, the Fase and Pa ti programs helped us maintain employment levels and start running when we opened,” Miura said. “Now we are almost back to normal. We will get back to normality when the government finishes awarding (several processes).”

According to Miura, MSMEs in the tourism sector were the most affected during the pandemic since a significant number of informal and formal merchants depend 100% on the flow of tourism.

“The main challenge is to consolidate union leadership and assume its role. In the same way that the government defines who is the director of public policies and unites efforts under a single guideline,” commented Miura. 

“The MSME sector from the government has not been able to join under the vision and mandates of the president and minister Bisonó. Its restructuring and alignment are important to address the problems that still affect the sector beyond the pandemic. Such as unfair competition and illicit trade.”

Reactivation Plan for MiPymes to mitigate the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic 

A bulletin from the General Directorate of Internal Taxes reports that MSMEs represented 98.7% of all registered companies as of 2020. In addition, the Central Bank of the Dominican Republic indicates that at the end of 2021, the population employed both formally and informally amounted to 4,422,840 (with 2,251,930 from the informal sector).

“With everything closed, including the institutions with which we work, and the clients’ projects stopped, we did not receive income in the first months,” said the owner of a law office. “Now, finally, two years later, we are on the mend, but it took a lot of effort, patience, and hard work to get back to where we were and learn to live with and deal with the economic fallout from the pandemic.”

Covid

Last February, the government announced that it was revoking the restriction measures imposed due to the pandemic, such as masks in public spaces and private areas for public use.

Despite the progress, the Dominican Society of Infectious Diseases recommended resuming the measures due to an increase in cases of COVID-19 in emergency rooms and consultations at health centers. 

On May 16, the Pan American Health Organization confirmed an actual increase, although it reported that the incidence to date remains low and there are still no signs of severe morbidity. However, that same day, the Ministry of Public Health announced the first death from COVID-19 since April 19, bringing the total number of deaths to 4,377.

Santo Domingo, FEBRUARY 18, 2022 (MIC) -

Although the Dominican Republic has some stability in handling COVID-19 cases and maintains a reasonable vaccination rate compared to other countries in the region —including Haiti—the public and private health systems face different challenges in addition to the pandemic. The list of needs seems to lengthen between the ups and downs of the case numbers.

The acquisition of loans to deal with the effects of COVID represents one of the most criticised and debated aspects of the management of President Luis Abinader and the Modern Revolutionary Party (PRM). Although from the administration of former mandatary Danilo Medina they have had to resort to them.

According to journalist Paola Tejeda, founder of the El Mitín platform, Medina’s economic team managed some loans before the change of government. For example, on March 30, 2020, the Ministry of Finance announced that it would use financing with the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) for $150 million to have liquidity in the face of the crisis caused by the pandemic.

While, according to the former Minister of Economy, Juan Ariel Jiménez, Medina’s management left one thousand one hundred million dollars negotiated:

• $750 million, with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).

• $250 million, to be disbursed by the French Development Agency.

• $100 million from the World Bank. And about 14 billion pesos in bonds ready to be placed in the domestic market.

“In our analysis of loans signed or approved during the first year of the PRM, we added a debt of 2,872,470,000 with multilaterals and banks, while the bond issue was 6,300 million: 3,800 million issued in September 2020 and 2,500 million issued in January 2021”, indicates Tejeda. “The largest debt was contracted by the current ruling party.”

The highest percentage of loans (39.9%) was assumed to face the COVID crisis and the second-highest rate (21.1%) to support the national budget.

From the current government, the following loans stand out:

• $236 million to finance the Program to Strengthen Fiscal Policy and Fiscal Management. With the French Development Agency (AFD).

• $120 million to acquire 10 million doses of vaccines to prevent COVID-19. With the pharmaceutical company Pfizer.

• $100 million to finance the Development Policy Program. With the IBRD.

• $40 million to purchase 10 million doses of vaccines from AstraZeneca. 

• Two $500 million loan contracts to finance the Program to Strengthen Public Policy and Fiscal Management and the Emergency Program for Macroeconomic and Fiscal Sustainability. Signed with the IDB.

• $23 million to ensure access for 10% of the population to vaccines. With Gavi Alliance, in Switzerland.

• $300 million with the Andean Development Corporation.

Given the criticism over the loans, the current Minister of Finance, Jochi Vicente, does not rule out the fact that the current administration may require more loan approvals in the National Congress to face the pandemic. “If we have to reapply for budget support loans to deal with the pandemic, we are going to do it, always within what is approved by Congress,” he said.

On the transparency and use of these funds, the IDB informs on its website about the development of the Investment Map of the Dominican Republic, in coordination with the Ministry of Economy: “In development, there is the COVID-19 module, which integrates and visualises the information available on the budget and execution of public resources associated with the management of the pandemic, with information from the Ministry of Finance and the General Directorate of Public Procurement.”

Devex’s other data indicate that The Central American Bank for Economic Integration approved non-reimbursable financial cooperation of $500,000 to the Dominican Republic. At the same time, the United States Government committed $1.4 million to mitigate the spread of the COVID-19 outbreak. In addition, the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund approved the Dominican Republic’s request for emergency financial assistance under the Rapid Financing Instrument, equivalent to $650 million.

One aspect to highlight is that the budget allocated to the health and social security sector is oriented to various areas as the situation progresses. 

In 2021, according to the Ministry of Economy, resources were divided into 1) Redoubling efforts in the fight against the pandemic. 2) Fund, when available, the vaccine administration. 3) Family health insurance coverage for 5.5 million members of the subsidized regime. 4) Availability of medicines, health supplies, and laboratory reagents in the 2,640 establishments of the public network. 5) 4.8 million homes and communities with a comprehensive strategy for the prevention and control of arboviruses. 6) Delivery of antiretrovirals, expansion of the number of primary care units, the dignity of public sector care centres, and strengthening collective health programs. 7) Delivery of high-cost medications to 2,445 people with catastrophic illnesses.

In 2022, the state’s efforts promise to focus on 1) Tuberculosis prevention and care. 2) Neonatal maternal health. 3) Prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of HIV-AIDS and 4) Early detection and cancer care.

Donations

For this report, the General Directorate of International Cooperation provided us with data on donations made to the country in the framework of COVID, from the beginning of the pandemic until April 2021:

1. One hundred sixty-five donation initiatives were received, mainly in kind.

2. Examples of donated supplies include personal protective equipment, technical assistance, medical equipment, and laboratory material.

3. Regarding the destination of the donations, firstly, 68.9% of the total number of initiatives benefited public sector institutions, primarily those in charge of health matters, risk management, economic and social issues. Among them, the Ministry of Public Health, the National Health Service, the Ministry of Economy, the Emergency Operations Center, and the Social Policy Coordination Cabinet.

4. Given the nature of the emergency, the most significant cooperation effort was allocated to the health sector, which received 61.9% of the donations. Meanwhile, the second most relevant sector was social assistance (19.9%) to the groups most affected by the pandemic.

5. Personal protective equipment and disinfectants were present in 24.5% of the donations, followed by technical assistance in 21.2%. Likewise, 34.9% of the donations corresponded to medical equipment and medicines, laboratory material, and educational materials for health prevention and promotion.

6. Until April 2021, the private sector raised 128 million pesos and 50,000 vaccines from the Chinese government.

7. Regarding the redirection of funds of 168 cooperation initiatives, the redirection of 103.8 million pesos was achieved, captured mainly by the health sector.

8. In addition, three projects (supported by Spain and CAF-BCIE) with a total non-reimbursable contribution of 882 thousand euros are being implemented in the agricultural, MiPymes, and risk management sectors.

According to Lety Melgen, Director of Cooperation Analysis and Coordination of the Ministry of Economy, one of the entity’s most significant challenges is reducing the dispersion of cooperation resources, using them more efficiently and effectively, and placing them in the priority needs. This, primarily because the Dominican Republic has become an upper-middle-income country, and the trend is for donations to decrease.

“We are aware that we received more of the data that we have here in the Vice Ministry because it was at a time of emergency, that is, the cooperant community began to cooperate in its primary networks,” Melgen explained for this report.

The official said that the follow-up of these resources would be from the Directorates that have a portfolio of projects. In addition, the entity of which she is a part has a list of tasks that works with some technicians in coordination with the sectoral ones. Each institution executes its funds, and the Vice Ministry of International Cooperation accompanies them in the process.

“It is almost impossible to follow up on all the projects. So, what we do is work in coordination with the institutions that carry out cooperation projects,” said Melgen.

General care vs. COVID

The Dominican Republic has been characterised as one of the countries that  invests the least in the health sector within the Latin American region.

According to the Alliance for the Right to Health (ADESA), in 2019, 1.8% of GDP was invested in health; however, for 2020-2022, there is a reduction of up to 1.7% of GDP.

The result of this minor investment is even more evident with the pandemic. Especially with suspended services, a saturation of emergency rooms; long waits due to the protocol that health centres must follow before admitting a patient; the high demand for care, among other difficulties.

For example, in February 2022, representatives of kidney transplant patients went to the offices of the High-Cost Medication and Medical Aid Program of the Ministry of Health to claim immunosuppressants such as Mycophenolate, Rapamune, and Prograf, which have been in short supply. On the other hand, some citizens reported that the 911 National System for Attention to Emergencies and Security has deficiencies and delays attending to people in an emergency.

According to epidemiologist Rafael Pimentel, many services were suspended at the beginning of the pandemic, leaving only the emergency and the COVID rooms. This situation meant that many chronic patients who had scheduled annual check-ups could not have them done.

He gives the example of tuberculosis patients who had to receive their treatment at home without supervision, which brought many complications.

“The lack of a primary care system focused on prevention; the lack of basic services such as drinking water and good disposal of liquid and solid waste brings to light diseases such as dengue, acute diarrhoea, sexually transmitted diseases, and maternal mortality,” said Pimentel.

While for Marisela Duval, a sociologist at ADESA, COVID has been a health emergency that has impacted health systems around the world, although, in countries with health service systems aimed at promoting health and disease prevention, that impact was much smaller. Unfortunately, she explained, that is not the case in the DR, where “a market-oriented curative medical model predominates.”

Other viruses and accidents

Since the beginning of December 2021 —according to the infectious disease doctor Clemente Terrero— the influenza virus has competed with COVID-19. As a result, almost at the end of December, the Ministry of Public Health reported applying some 252 thousand doses of the Seasonal influenza A (H1N1), A (H3N2), and type B influenza vaccine reaching 56% of the vulnerable population. In addition, the government acquired 450 thousand doses to protect vulnerable groups.

While at the end of January 2022, the Robert Reid Cabral Hospital authorities confirmed that they had 21 children admitted for COVID-19 and dengue. According to the Department of Epidemiology’s records, dengue has a high incidence in more than 80% of the child population (with 26 deaths by the end of 2021). 

Regarding the population with HIV, although the country has made progress in the systematic reduction of AIDS mortality and improvement related to people’s access to antiretroviral drugs, the pandemic also impacted the treatment of people with this virus. The latter, according to the United Nations Organization for HIV and AIDS.

Vehicle accidents are another pandemic that affects the DR. According to the Fundación Círculo de Cultura Democrática, the Dominican Republic places with the highest mortality rate due to traffic accidents in the Americas with 34.6% of deaths per 100,000 inhabitants. Its impact on the Internal Product Gross per year is 2.21%. The Foundation recorded 10,702 deaths in traffic accidents in the last five years.

Another factor affecting the public health system is its physical facilities. The most specific report on the subject is a journalistic investigation carried out by Acento and Connectas, which documents the critical condition of five of the 56 public health centres that the Government of Danilo Medina decided to remodel or rebuild in 2013.

In that investigation, the journalist Kharla Pimentel pointed out that 60% of them are still half-built, have broken equipment, or do not have it eight years later. And these flaws are evident amid the pandemic.

“More than half of the intervened health centres present deterioration in floors, walls, air conditioners and destruction in their surgical areas. And 25 percent have dispensed with most of their operating rooms due to their deteriorating states,” Pimentel wrote. “In addition, 10 percent of the hospitals still have unfinished areas or areas to be renovated, despite having been reopened between 2018 and 2019, the times before the 2020 presidential election campaign.”

Santo Domingo, December 13, 2021 (MIC) -

As at December 11, the Dominican Republic was second only to Cuba among independent Caribbean states, in the race to achieve near universal levels of vaccination among the vaccinatable population – over 63% receiving at least an initial dose. Cuba has reached 90%.

Cases have declined sharply from a November peak as has a case mortality rate of slightly over 1%.

However, there is evidence that rigid pandemic measures, that have begun to steadily ease, continue to take a toll on the physical, emotional and social well-being of the nation’s children.

Both Juan and Santiago (not their real names) felt bored during the months they were at home due to the crisis caused by the pandemic. After the suspension of face-to-face classes in March 2020, both had to adapt to the new normal.

“Now I feel good because I have school and I can study,” says 8-year-old Juan. While, with the return to face-to-face classes, Santiago, 12, feels happy to see his friends again. “I saw my teachers, and my wish to go to school has been fulfilled.”

But to return to school and share with their peers, they underwent many challenges like thousands of other children in the country.

The pandemic affected Dominican childhood and adolescence differently, according to the socio-educational level of families, their ages, and places of residence. 

Before the virus arrived, the country was already registering a poverty rate of 27%. Within this cohort, the Economic Commission for Latin America estimates that children between the ages of zero five years account for 45%.

According to the Executive Director of Save the Children, Alba Rodríguez, the country has faced low-quality education during the last decade. Before the pandemic, the Ministry of Education estimated that only 12 out of 100 children in the third grade of elementary school had acceptable reading skills for their level of schooling. In addition, 60% of high school dropouts were due to reading comprehension failures.

The country was the last and penultimate country in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) tests in reading and mathematics, respectively. 

The nation also has one of the highest infant maternal mortality rates in Latin America and the Caribbean. The resources allocated to the health sector (historically uneven) have been used exclusively to combat the virus. Maternal and infant mortality increased by 20 and 27%, respectively.

“Covid found us working with the same limitations as 15 years ago,” says Rodríguez.

In Villas Agrícolas, a neighbourhood of the National District where the Abriendo Camino Foundation is located, schools, NGOs, and churches function as social safety nets to protect vulnerable children. With isolation, kids faced greater vulnerability. This situation is replicated at the national level.

School closures also eliminated access to nutrition programmes and contributed to skyrocketing malnutrition rates.

Elizabeth Puig, president of Abriendo Camino, indicates that the pandemic opened the door to school dropouts and domestic violence.

“The most vulnerable population within Villas Agrícolas is the one that has suffered the most: disabled, undocumented, and migrant children,” explains Puig. 

“Those most affected by the pandemic were children whose parents were informal workers and didn’t have access to financial compensation. As a result, children of the Foundation have had to beg on the street and rummage through the garbage.”

 During the curfew months, resources were redirected towards immediate emergency. The physical structure of the Foundation was like an empty shell.

In June, the foundation restarted activities with small face-to-face groups in the open air with a population of children in situations of extreme vulnerability. Then they reopened their library and started a school levelling and literacy programme with smaller groups.

From March 17, 2020, pre-university education was conducted virtually – a move that affected 2.8 million students - 1.8 million at state institutions. 

The pandemic began in the last quarter of the school year when 70% of the school curriculum was being taught in-person.

The educational gap became even more apparent, together with the problems faced by parents. For example, the Enhogar 2018 survey points out the positive relationship between the higher academic level achieved by the head of the household and access to ICTs. 

However, many parents did not have the time or pedagogical training to support their children, even in these cases.

The pandemic has also increased the gap between those who study in quality private schools, public schools, and those in rural and urban areas.

Although the Digital Republic programme had been developed since 2017, in the best cases, the virtual education of the poorest children was done via cell phones or tablets with poor digital infrastructure and low connectivity.

For most private centres, it was a bit easier. For example, in just two days, Notre Dame Schoolwas among the first educational centres to convert 100% of its curriculum to a digital format.

By July 2020, the World Bank estimated that 40% of students in the border areas of the Dominican Republic lacked access to distance education. Consequently, at the national level, 41% of students received less than two hours of class per day.

The Ministry of Education prepared a series of booklets with selected content. These materials, plus pre-recorded programmes broadcast on television and radio came to support the teaching that the students received and the connection with their teacher through WhatsApp or Zoom.

Secondary level class of the Dominican Republic educational system in its distance mode.

A study carried out by the World Bank and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) polled the views of 800 parents and 454 directors of educational centres within the state sector regarding distance education.

Although most parents reported that their children were aware of and used educational programmes broadcast on television, detailed data from the Nielsen ratings suggested that viewership steadily declined and that the time students spent in front of a television was a lot less than that envisaged by the government.

A preliminary study carried out by Business Action for Education revealed that at least 20,000 children have dropped out of school since the beginning of the pandemic. 

A survey carried out by the World Vision organisation further indicated that 63.5% of parents with children at the primary level felt that they didn't learn enough due to the lack of internet at home, lack of devices, and assistance from a qualified adult to provide such pedagogical support.

After completion of a period of distance education, authorities approved the promotion of a degree to all students, with the commitment that those who didn’t reach the percentage of qualification necessary to pass the degree would join a remedial programme. However, this decision was later reversed.

The 2021-2022 school year began in September 2021 in person, in public and private schools, with a protocol devised by the authorities.

“It was necessary to be able to have young people with good mental and emotional states because, with virtuality, the majority did not respond in a good way. So, the contact and company were needed to return to the usual,” said a secondary school teacher who preferred to remain unidentified. 

“The problem is that students are not educated to handle a protocol of distancing.”

We are waiting for you this September 20! To the classes all together in this School Year 2021-2022

The return to face-to-face classes represented the end of a long struggle between parents’ associations and the educational system. A Collective of Parents for Presence Education asked to allow face-to-face classes with a protection protocol because they were concerned about school dropouts, domestic violence, and the psychological effects of isolation in infants.

The last step the Collective took was to complain to the Ombudsman to intervene with the ministries of Education and Health and thus approve the return of students to the educational institutions. In addition, they criticised the Government’s decision to permit the opening of bars, restaurants, gyms, parks while blocking a return to school.

Also, 67 private schools requested permission to return to face-to-face classes.

The Dominican Association of Teachers however argued that the return to face-to-face or blended teaching, without first inoculating 100% of the schools’ staff, would be very risky.

Child Labour and Health

The last time the incidence of child labour was measured in the country was in 2014. According to the National Survey of Multiple Purpose Homes, at that time, 12.8% of children between the ages of five and 17 were working.

Organisations such as Fundación La Merced - dedicated to eradicating child labour for more than ten years – have warned that the disease made the situation even more precarious.

“The limitation of income to pay for food and the most basic family needs, in addition to the availability of ‘unoccupied’ time (in lockdown, time at home, suspension of face-to-face public education, absence of recreational opportunities, among other factors) are risk factors,” explains Alberto Jiménez, Fundación La Merced Programme Coordinator.

This, he says, poses the risk of families attempting to boost household income through the employment of children.

Economic insecurity in families has led to increased child labour, sexual exploitation, adolescent pregnancy, and child marriage. Also, due to the tensions that families are going through, the incidence of family disruption has worsened.

In 2020, Save the Children warned that the loss of income generated by the pandemic would lead to an increase in child marriage in the Dominican Republic.

Jiménez lists some of the child labour activities to which children in areas such as the Batey Bienvenido community are exposed. These include work as caregivers of other minors; housework; bakery assistance; boot cleaning; window cleaning; street vending, and other such activities.

During the first months of the pandemic, the support provided to children and families by this Foundation was very significant. It implemented an emergency response that distributed more than 4,980 basic food items, together with hygiene and protection kits in fortnightly deliveries to more than 500 families. 

Unfortunately, as they are mainly migrants, most of this population does not receive official state aid.

The Ministry of Public Health has analysed the impact of pandemic conditions on child and youth mental health. Experts agreed that disorders such as depression increased in youngsters, as well as an unwillingness to assume responsibilities, and increased (negative) use of social networks.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has supported the establishment of a family line to mitigate the emotional impact caused by the coronavirus situation and to help reduce morbidity and mortality from mental health. Between June 2020 and August 2021, 5,305 cases were addressed - 1,482 involved children under the age of 17.

Consequently, 459 cases of severe mental health risk were detected. Of these, 102 involved children and adolescents - 61% reaching the stage of being at risk for suicide and self-harm.

President of the Institute of Mental Health and Telepsychology, Julio Canario, pointed out that 2021 finds the country with a pandemic of suicidal and self-injurious behaviours in children up to the age of 10.

“Many families are in situations of grief, violence, depression, and anxiety as a result of the repercussions of the pandemic,” Canario said. He further indicated that hospitals closed mental health services and there was minimal access to psychology and psychiatry services for youngsters.

In July 2020, the monitoring report of the Minister of Public Health registered 260 cases of COVID-19 in children under the age of one. About 11 died from the virus.

SSince then, no figures of this type have been offered, although a scientific article concluded that the disease has spread rapidly in children throughout the country, despite a low incidence of death.

Recently Luz Herrera Brito, President of the Dominican Society of Pediatrics’, expressed her concern about the effect of the delta variant. especially since the country lacks enough intensive care units to care for minors.

Vaccination

On June 11, health authorities announced that minors from 12 could receive COVID-19 vaccines.

Months later, governmental institutions, and specialised medical societies have consented to inoculate children over the age of five with the Sinovac vaccine. The other vaccine being considered is Pfizer-BioNTech.

As of October 11, the Ministry of Public Health mandated that everyone over the age of 12 would be required to present a vaccination card or a negative PCR test in order to access public places, schools, work, and other public places. 

In November, vaccination with Sinovac was approved in two doses for children over the age of of five.

Santo Domingo, October 10, 2021 (MIC) -

With over 56% of the population receiving at least a first dose of COVID-19 vaccines, as at the first in October, the Dominican Republic is a regional front-runner in the drive to combat new and serious infections from the virus.

There has been a marginal resurgence of new cases, but week-on-week declines in the number of casualties

On September 16, the Dominican health authorities confirmed the presence of the virulent Delta variant.

At the beginning of September, the Government announced that it would donate more than half a million doses of vaccines to several countries in Central America and the Caribbean "that had requested them." So far, 101,000 amounts have been donated to Honduras and 304,000 to Guatemala.

Although the donation announcement included Haiti (with 505,000 doses of AstraZeneca), the director-general of the Haitian Ministry of Health, Lauré Adrién, said that the country neither knew about the donation nor would accept it.

"No one has contacted us at the ministry for such an offer, and if this were the case, the answer would have been negative anyway because we have several hundred thousand doses of Moderna vaccine in stock, from which we have no guarantee that we will be able to use them before their expiration date," said Adrién in an interview.

Up to shortly before publication of this report, the Dominican authorities had not reported on whether the doses had been sent either to Haiti or to other countries in the region. However, during a speech at the United Nations General Assembly on September 22, President Luis Abinader assured that the country had delivered “about 820 thousand doses” to countries of the region.

Speech - President Luis Abinader before the UN General Assembly 2021

On September 29, with an initial investment of US$1,507,217, the Dominican Government reported that it had acquired the REGEN-COV drug to treat covid-19. 

Farming

The relative contribution of the agricultural sector in the Dominican economy is around 5% of the gross domestic product. It represents about 20% of national exports. The Dominican Republic produces approximately 80% of all the food it consumes. In essential goods for the Dominican diet —such as rice and chicken— it is self-sufficient.

"Based on what the country has food and what on average the population needs in caloric terms, the Dominican Republic exceeds 100%," said José Javier Tavares, economist, and specialist in agricultural economics. "We are talking about an indicator that for 2019 was 121%."

With the arrival of COVID-19, and the accompanying global economic paralysis, usual operations for the supply of products necessary for production were affected, and there was a reduction in national products destined for the tourism sector and for export. In addition, producers had difficulty repaying credits obtained before COVID-19 and the securing of new loans at the beginning of the pandemic.

Tavares indicated that despite the obstacles of all the macro-sectors that make up the Dominican economy, the only one that grew in favourable terms during 2020 was agriculture (2.8%). However, crops such as tobacco, sugar cane, and coffee reflected this growth over and above primary food products such as rice and bananas.

In early 2020, a seasonal drought affected the country. Later, two storms, Isaías and Laura.

According to the 2020 Institutional Report of the agricultural sector, national agricultural production reached 173.95 million quintals of food (an increase of 3.64%). Similarly, 10,311,757 tasks were sown and harvested (a rise of 2.31%). As a result, livestock production reached a volume of 34.24 million quintals.

Upon the virus's arrival, producers complained about the lack of a market to place their products and said that many were damaged, as happened with vegetables.

Given this concern, the then minister of Agriculture, Osmar Benítez, announced a series of programmes to purchase products. For example, the Ministry reported the acquisition of 5.8 million pounds of chicken to alleviate the loss of one million that the sector sold monthly to hoteliers. In addition, for some producers, the institution ordered the freezing of loans and interest payments for 90 days and the extension of financing terms with Banco Agrícola.

As well, institutions such as The Batey Relief Alliance reported that as a result of the threat posed by the pandemic, it will invest more than US$800,000, through its Disaster Relief program, to assist with dehydrated food, drinking water, medical care, and preventive education to more than 40 thousand low-income families affected by the health crisis in the Dominican Republic.

The Ministry of Agriculture and social assistance institutions delivered food to the most vulnerable families throughout the territory. For example, income transfer programmes, the Complementary School Food Baskets of the School Feeding Programme, and inexpensive canteens were critical in reducing food insecurity.

"For 2013-2015, the prevalence of undernourishment in the Dominican Republic was equal to 23%. However, from those dates, it was decreasing until reaching 6.7% in 2017-2019", said Tavares.

However, in 2018-2020 everything changed. The undernourished rose to 8.3%, with an apparent COVID-19 effect.

In the Dominican Republic, the coronavirus had a significant impact on access to food, both physical and monetary. The increase in food inflation reached 8.36%. 

For August 2021, the cumulative cut in food inflation was 7.9%. While, except for Venezuela and Argentina, the Regional Center for Sustainable Economic Strategies placed the Dominican Republic among the highest for food inflation in Latin

America and the Caribbean.

According to Richard Peralta, a specialist in food policies and rural development, data from Proconsumidor show that between August 2020 and June 2021, beef, pork, fresh chicken, and eggs suffered increases of 38%, 31%, 16%, and 24 %, respectively; rice, red beans, banana, plantain, and processed products also increased.

There are still adverse effects of external nature, such as maritime transport having made prices much more expensive. Additionally, there is a problem in the commercialisation of products in the Dominican Republic since the value chains of all crops and livestock products are uneven in quality, and concerns about reasonable margins to achieve profitability.

There has also been a problem with physical access, as a result of the closure of regional and municipal markets.

Fever

In August, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) alerted the countries of the Americas about the need for preventive measures in the face of the detection of the first case of African swine fever in the region, discovered on July 28 in domestic pigs from the Dominican Republic. This case is the first confirmed in the Western Hemisphere since 1980.

As claimed by Erick Montilla, director of communications for the Ministry of Agriculture, "there is no vaccine or treatment against African swine fever (and) the only solution is to eliminate all affected pigs." Furthermore, he said that authorities would compensate the producers whose animals were slaughtered.

ASF Eradication Press Conference

As of the date of this report, more than 862 pig producers have been rewarded for the slaughter of more than 51,000 animals. In addition, the State delivered more than US$3.4 million to the producers.

In August, the Cuban Ministry of Agriculture also issued a health alert in the face of the outbreak. It prohibited the entry of any pork products from the Dominican Republic and Haiti.

At the 2021 Conference of Ministers of Agriculture of the Americas, Haitian Minister of Agriculture, Charlot Bredy, affirmed that his country took preventive measures but called for international solidarity due to the severe damage suffered from the 2021 earthquake.

In an attempt to reduce the population’s distrust of pork consumption, President Luis Abinader was shown on social networks eating fried pork. The Minister of Agriculture, Limber Cruz, also photographed himself eating fried pork at a street stall.

While, in an opinion article, Zhang Run, China's ambassador to the country, reported that on September 14, China donated US$100,000 to the Dominican Ministry of Agriculture to support the African Swine Fever Control and Eradication Programme. In addition, in the future, agricultural cooperation could focus on:

• Prevention and control of African swine fever. 

• The process of exporting Dominican agricultural products to China. 

• Bilateral cooperation in the field of agricultural technology.

For José Javier Tavares, the Ministry of Agriculture does not have the necessary capacity to alleviate this level's health crisis. “When it happened in 1979, where we had a rudimentary pig industry,” he said. “The problem is that now we breed pigs of high genetic quality, with nothing to envy those of the United States and Europe.”

Exports

Enrique de Castro, president of the Dominican Association of Meat Livestock Producers, reported that the country is preparing to achieve equivalence for the export of meat to the United States with the projection of placing 3,000 tonnes per year or US$690 million in the first five years. They would have to pass the inspection that the US authorities would carry out in three industrial slaughterhouses on September 13. There is no news about the result yet.

According to the Sectorial Competitiveness Bulletin 2021 of the Ministry of Economy, Planning, and Development, between 2017 and 2020, 22 products reduced their share in exports to the United States despite the increase in demand worldwide.

The report also highlights that, in the 2014-2019 period, the Dominican Republic's agricultural production index grew 24.2%, well above that registered in Latin America and the Caribbean (5.5%). Regarding agricultural production, in 2019, the nation ranked number 3, behind Colombia and Guyana.

Poultry sector

The Minister of Agriculture assured that the current situation of chicken consumption in the country is not “normal” due to the decrease in pork production that occurred a few weeks ago, which is why he justified the importation of chicken.

Given the information that they would authorise the free importation of chickens, the Dominican Poultry Association (ADA) president, Juan Lucas Alba, said that national producers had made all possible efforts to increase production. Therefore, according to Alba, at this time, it does not need to import more.

In an interview conducted for this article, Gregory Marte, agricultural specialist and Executive Director of the ADA, reported that the production value of the poultry sector at the end of 2019 was about US$730 million annually, of which the chicken subsector contributed 75.3% and the egg subsector the remaining 24.7%.

Before the pandemic, the poultry sector was characterised by sustained annual growth. For example, for 2015-2019, the industry experienced an average yearly increase of 9.45%.

By 2019, the country produced some 368,000 tons of chicken merchandise and some 2,493,800,000 units of eggs.

According to Marte, the pandemic meant a disruptive process for both subsectors, significantly impacting the chicken subsector. “The marketing channels were closed, and this led to an accumulation of around 5 million chickens on farms and in cold rooms, which depressed the price and forced a reduction in the production of approximately 50% by June 2020,” he said.

The specialist believes that the pandemic affected food security. “If we currently see an increase of more than 20% in imports of agricultural products from the country, and if this trend continues, at least by the end of this year the country will not have produced 85% of what it consumes as in years before the pandemic,” warned Marte.

His estimate is that the value of poultry production is expected to reach US$ 940million this year.

Shortage

The Dominican Republic is ranked 49 in 113 countries in the Global Food Security Index 2020. Rodrigo Castañeda, the new representative of the FAO in the Dominican Republic, expressed his concern about food security and nutrition.

"There are indicators that the Dominican diet is not healthy since there are three million Dominicans who are obese, which is 27% of the population," said the FAO representative. He however added that 600,000 people did not have ready and regular access to food supplies before the pandemic, and these figures are increasing.

Last July, the Presidency announced that UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, had called on the Dominican Government to help play a role in the effort “to stop world famine.”

Santo Domingo, june 1, 2021 (MIC) -

In its follow-up bulletin to covid-19, on Saturday, July 31, the Ministry of Public Health of the Dominican Republic reported 395 infections and seven deaths from the disease. For the last four weeks, the daily positivity rates stand at 10.24 percent and 9.74 percent respectively. In contrast, the related fatality remains at 1.16%.

According to official data, since the beginning of the pandemic, 341,905 cases and 3,963 deaths have been registered in the country.

On Wednesday, July 28, the Ministry of Public Health reported the circulation in the country of ten variants of COVID-19: Gamma is the mutation that causes the most concern since it covers 24.8% of the 113 samples in which they found mutations of the virus.

Also, in mid-July, that Ministry, together with Specialized Medical Societies, reported that it had not identified the circulation of the highly contagious Delta variant in the country.

On the other hand, in a letter sent by President Luis Abinader to the National Congress with which he presents a supplementary budget project for 2021, it was reported that COVID-19 would cost the nation at least US$1,130.21 (64,413.7 million pesos) this year. That amount exceeds the budgets of a whole year of ministries such as Defense or Public Works.

According to the letter, almost half of that amount will cover the purchase of vaccines against the coronavirus. In addition, subsidies to curb the price crisis generated by the pandemic are also included.

The vaccines alone, acquired through the COVAX mechanism and other contracts, cost the Dominican State US$31,115.9 million. Meanwhile, immunisation materials and supplies add another US$8,862,485 to the 2021 budget.

To these figures are added: US$42,828 to buy PCR tests; US$87,655 for pensions to health, police, and military personnel who have attended the emergency due to the coronavirus and US$29,6204 for the help programs Stay at Home and FASE until April. 

So far, the Dominican Republic is the third country in Latin America and the Caribbean in vaccination rates, only behind Chile and Uruguay. Its National Vaccination Plan began on February 17, 2021, with 22 thousand Covishield vaccines from India. Three vaccines against the virus have been available: Sinovac (most Dominicans received this two-dose schedule), Pfizer, and AstraZeneca.

The nation adds a total of 17,065,270 doses of medicines received and already has 10,140,333 amounts applied as of July 31.

Gavi Alliance and COVAX supplies

According to Relief Web, in April 2021, the Dominican Republic received 91,200 doses of vaccines through the Mechanism of the Global Equitable Access Fund to Vaccines against COVID-19 (COVAX), corresponding to the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine manufactured in South Korea. This amount corresponded to the first batch of 2,169,600 doses of vaccines that the Government expects to receive with its financing. In addition, on May 14, UNICEF reported that the country received another 187,200 doses.

The State agreed to receive 2,169,600 drugs through COVAX. This deal is worth approximately US$22,889,280 at US$4.27 per dose.

Health Minister Daniel Rivera stated that “this second batch of vaccines ... supports our goal of immunising as many people as possible in the shortest time possible.”

Despite these commitments, there was a delay with receiving the doses, which has occurred with several nations. President Abinader complained about the non-compliance with deliveries and announced that they would analyze what to do with that situation.

Outside COVAX and deliveries

In the country, fixed vaccination days are developed to achieve herd immunity.

Covishield

Covishield were the first vaccines to arrive on February 15, 2021, as the first part of a final batch of 110,000 developed in India with the AstraZeneca formula. The first batch contained 20,000 doses. Four days later, 30,000 arrived as a donation from the Government of India. The rest were also delayed.

AstraZeneca

The Dominican Republic signed up for 10 million vaccines in October 2020 with the Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford, of which the first (478,000 doses) arrived on June 23.

The agreement calls for monthly deliveries on the 21st of every month effective March 2021. In total, 10 million doses have been arranged at a cost of about US$40 million.

Sinovac and Sinopharm

The vast majority of Dominicans received their two-dose regimen from the Chinese company Sinovac, which has delivered 13.5 million doses.

China has been the primary supplier of vaccines, which arose due to the delay in other deliveries. “If it weren’t for the Chinese Sinovac vaccines, the days of immunisation against the coronavirus in the Dominican Republic would not have existed,” said journalist Marisol Aquino.

The first shipment was on February 23 of this year (a batch of 768,000 doses).

“We are making every effort to receive the number of doses necessary to vaccinate the entire Dominican people as soon as possible,” said the Vice President of the Republic, Raquel Peña. A month later, a batch containing 1 million of the Sinovac product and 50 thousand Sinopharm (as a donation) arrived in the country.

The most recent arrived on June 22, and it was the largest shipment yet: three million vaccines.

Pfizer

The country also entered into a contract valued at US$119,999,880 with the pharmaceutical company Pfizer for 9,999,990 doses. The first shipment was 228,150 doses, received by government representatives on June 11, while the second was 208,260 (a week later). On June 25, 208,000 additional doses landed. Also, on July 23, 445,770 doses arrived.

Another 503,100 doses of the vaccine arrived on July 30. According to the vice president, every Friday a batch of 200,000 amounts will arrive.

On June 25, the Government announced that it would apply a third (optional) dose of the covid-19 vaccine as a booster (“minimum” one month after the second dose has been applied, and it must be a different vaccine from the first two).

The Dominican Republic was the first country in Latin America and the Caribbean to announce the application of a booster dose (with Pfizer). VP Peña, the coordinator of the Health Cabinet, affirmed that the decision to apply the dose was made “anticipating and advancing” measures, taking into account the situation in other countries with the arrival of more infectious variants of the coronavirus.

Since last June 11, the authorities have also vaccinated children under 12 years of age (with Pfizer only), in addition to the entire adult population.

The WHO advised against applying a booster dose since “the scientific evidence to justify its need is not yet available.” The UN institution asked the countries to advance with two doses to as many people as possible and equitable distribution in all countries.

Meanwhile, during a press conference of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), Assistant Director Dr Jarbas Barbosa, explained that WHO has a group of international experts who meet weekly to review the evidence produced by studies that are being done to determine the duration of immunity to the vaccine, the responses to new variants, among other variables. 

He said they also review real-life data, just in case the recommendations need to be changed. Barbosa also assured that it is very important to wait for evidence to support decision-making.

"You cannot begin to make recommendations without evidence because with that you can put the credibility of the authorities in doubt," said Barbosa. “As of today there is no evidence to support a third dose. That can change in two months, it is not a mistake to change, it is a good idea to change when the evidence is available.”

In addition, he criticised countries that have a surplus of vaccines use it for a third dose. Since not only this decision is related to health, but also to the moral sphere.

On this decision, Dominicans have diverse opinions.

For virologist Robert Paulino Ramírez a booster dose may be needed in six months or a year. However, he considered that the country should strengthen the application of a second dose to get closer to herd immunity before pursuing the possibility of a third dose. In addition, the State must produce local data through surveillance of those who have been vaccinated.

Similarly, the Dominican Society of Infectology’s president, Clevy Pérez, considered the booster dose important. However, she understands that the country must move forward with applying the first and second doses. Regarding the WHO warning, she indicates that it is due more to the interest that vaccines reach everyone in an equitable way rather than to the possible risks.

On July 21, President Abinader applied the third dose and encouraged citizens to follow his example to restore normalcy and create jobs.

“I do not want a Dominican to stay, a Dominican to vaccinate. That is what will lead us to normalisation,” the president told the press.

According to the COVID-19 advisor of the Ministry of Health, Eddy Pérez Then: “The Dominican Republic in a constant increase in the number of people vaccinated is well above countries like Colombia, Mexico, we are only behind Chile and the United States.”

WHO Protocols and Vaccine Vaccination

The WHO approved the emergency use of the anti-covid drug from Sinovac, the second Chinese-made medication. The sixth manufacturer made it onto the emergency use list, after vaccines from Pfizer (the first to do so), Moderna, AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, and Sinopharm

These days, the inoculation process against the virus has slowed down, despite the number of vaccines the country has. As a result, young people are the least likely to take the drug.

Only five provinces exceed 70 percent of those inoculated with one dose. Some of the reasons for those who do not decide to get vaccinated, as evidenced in reports and on social networks: scepticism, conspiracy theories, anti-vaccine movements, and religious interpretations.

“There is still a need to continue increasing the number of people who are vaccinated ... we are complying with that second dose, but as we advance that vaccination, there are fewer people with the first dose, and that is now the challenge we have”, Advisor Eddy Pérez Then explained.

While the Vice Minister of Collective Health, Eladio Pérez, indicated that they would insist that the population be vaccinated because they support all government entities. They have not yet explained any plans to increase the percentage of vaccination.

Mandatory nature and programs

Senator Bautista Rojas Gómez, a proponent of the Dominican Republic’s National Vaccine Law project, denied that it is mandatory to get vaccinated. He clarified that what is stipulated is that the Government has to supply the biologicals necessary to prevent diseases that require doses of vaccines.

The General Health Law of the Dominican Republic establishes that every natural person must comply with the legal and regulatory provisions issued to control infectious diseases in the population.

“The Government can not only make the vaccine mandatory in the case of COVID-19. It is also empowered to make a series of decisions such as those it has been adopting,” says lawyer Cristóbal Rodríguez.

Other legislators, Dionis Sánchez and Antonio Marte presented a draft resolution that seeks to establish the prohibition of entry to public and private places and other places that are not vaccinated. In addition, to use public transport, passengers would have to show their vaccination cards.

The mayor of Santiago, Abel Martínez, also announced that he plans to prevent access to municipal public spaces for those who do not get vaccinated.

In addition, the Minister of Public Health, Daniel Rivera, said that he knows of companies that have told their staff that they have a deadline to be vaccinated or cannot continue to be linked to it.

So far, the State rejects the idea of compulsory nature.

Likewise, Rivera assured that, if to complete the goal of vaccinating the population against the disease, it is necessary to look for people in their homes and the most distant areas, they will do so. At the beginning of July, the president announced the new measures followed by the provinces that reach 70 percent of those vaccinated with the two doses (La Altagracia and Santo Domingo).

Herd immunity

Several officials use the term “herd immunity,” among them the vice president who assures that the Government wants to achieve it.

Even so, the director of the National Health Service, Mario Lama, stated that achieving herd immunity amid the pandemic is “very difficult” and that it is not known if what will be achieved is temporary immunity.

Santo Domingo, june 1, 2021 (MIC) -

The IDB fills the breach

Overview

By the end of May, coronavirus cases resumed their upward trend, following a period of decline that had begun in February.

On May 25, it was noted by the Health Ministry that the occupancy rate at Intensive Care facilities had reached 63% while the mortality rate hovered at around 1.26%.

A revised national curfew between the hours of 8:00 p.m. and 5:00 a.m. was consequently declared, as outbreaks were observed in an increasing number of areas. On May 31st, the government established differentiated curfew schedules based on the levels of contagion in the country.

The largest group of provinces will have a curfew from 6:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m., and on Saturdays and Sundays from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. Within this group there are 25 provinces, out of 32. 

In the last week of May, one million doses of Sinovac vaccines from China arrived in the country. More than 3.8 million doses have already been administered to 1,087,424 now fully vaccinated people as part of an accelerated vaccination programme.

Key Partner

For this report, interviews were conducted with sector specialists from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) office located in the Dominican Republic. 

For 60 years, the IDB has represented “the main source of financing for the economic and social development of the Dominican Republic,” facilitating loans, technical help, research, and donations in at least 18 major sectors such as agriculture, infrastructure, exports, quality of electricity supply, sanitation, and access to drinking water.

According to IDB data, the contingent line for natural disasters signed with the Government was modified to include actions aimed at addressing the emergency generated by the disease.

For example, as part of this operation, it provided up to US$28 million for the acquisition of equipment, materials, and supplies in collaboration with the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). This formed part of the COVID-19 Emergency Response Operational Plan approved in 2020.

The IDB has played a role in the areas of technical assistance together with the purchase of equipment, goods, and supplies to strengthen the country’s response to the health emergency.

According to the Bank: “This contingent line will support the country in financing the vaccines that are acquired through the COVAX mechanism, and if the country requires it and the requirements established by the Bank are met, it may also finance the vaccines that are acquired through bilateral contracts.”

In August 2020, technical cooperation programme DR-T1207 (US$200,000) was approved to support the National Health Service with tools for pandemic and post-pandemic needs in the areas of infrastructure, human resources, and document management, among others.

In terms of telemedicine, the DR-T1212 technical cooperation programme was approved. This seeks to adapt and test the effectiveness of an Omnichannel telemedicine platform that offers health services focused on disease. All of this is under the leadership of BIDLab - the innovation laboratory of the IDB Group.

The Bank also supported the Epidemiology Directorate and the Public Health Intelligence Centre by creating a dashboard that allows the visualisation and monitoring of notifiable diseases, such as COVID-19 and malaria.

In 2020, there was also a request for IDB technical assistance in the design and implementation of a module for the management of information and visualisation of emergency resources associated with COVID-19, as a complement to the MapaInversiones República Dominicana platform and in alignment with best practices and international standards in matters of transparency and digital government.

The COVID-19 module for the Dominican Republic is under development and will be part of the Fiscal Transparency Portal of the Dominican Republic.

Trends

Before the arrival of the pandemic, and despite being in the middle of a political contest, the country maintained a pattern of steady economic growth. Despite this, although it had made progress in reducing poverty and inequality, significant socioeconomic gaps persisted.

For example, many Dominicans lacked access to quality education and health, physical and technological connectivity, and quality jobs.

According to IDB reports, the prolonged closure of schools and the difficulties of remote education negatively affected teaching practices and academic achievement. The poorest are the most affected, as they face gaps in connectivity and digital skills.

In the health system, due to the need to heavily focus financial and human resources on COVID-19 care, other segments of public health care were neglected, such as immunisation programmes and care for chronic diseases.

The pandemic also affected the country’s productive sectors, especially tourism, but also with strong consequences for transport, agriculture, and construction. Likewise, commerce, entertainment, and, to a lesser extent, manufacturing suffered. The pandemic resulted in many people leaving the job market, especially women.

For example, the “Covid-19 bajo la lupa” report authored by the Ministry of Economic Planning and Development, explains that Dominican women lost 7.5% of their jobs while men lost 4.9%. 

According to the report, the femininity index of general poverty increased in June 2020 compared to 2019. This result “confirms the trend towards an increase in the feminisation index of poverty over time and the economic and social inequalities women suffer compared to men. In June 2020, there were 117 poor women for every 100 poor men.”

According to the IDB, in the face of the effects of the pandemic, the challenge is to ensure that the growth, forecast by the Central Bank, of 5% to 6% this year, is durable and resilient for the entire population.

“The pandemic accelerated progress on some issues in ways that would have been hard to imagine. For example, social safety nets: The emergency social programs covered almost half of the country’s population; so suddenly the under-coverage of assistance for the poor population was significantly reduced,” say sector specialists from the IDB office in the Dominican Republic. 

“Now with the clearing of this aid, the authorities are reviewing the records to ensure greater coverage of the poorest and reductions in the leakage of beneficiaries who do not qualify for the aid.”

Also, the pandemic showed the importance of public services and the need to ensure their continuity.

“This is particularly relevant in an emergency context: to ensure that resources reach those who need to reach them and that the objectives of economic recovery and social development are met. Our dialogue with the authorities has advanced on this agenda,” the IDB specialists say.

On the monitoring of the funds delivered to the countries, the IDB ensures that all projects financed by the Bank in the borrowing member countries, including the Dominican Republic, enjoy the Bank’s technical assistance, mobilised within the framework of a Plan of Annual Supervision, whose implementation the Bank’s resources finances.

In November 2020, the representative of the Inter-American Development Bank in the Dominican Republic, Miguel Coronado, expressed his concern about the long time it takes to execute the loans granted by the multilateral agency in the country.

To face this situation, the Bank gave the assurance that it takes great care in the design stage of operations to propose fewer complex projects (reducing the number of stakeholders and counterparts) and tries to be as realistic as possible in lead times execution. 

At the same time, the implementation of the projects is “always accompanied by training programs for the executors, especially in project management, public contracting, planning, and monitoring.”

In addition to the work they do due to the pandemic, the entity continues with its regular programs (infrastructure and a project to help make the public function more efficient). Added to this is waiting for the ratification by Congress of two loan contracts approved in previous years by the Bank.

Although designed before the pandemic, these operations remain “relevant in the current context and will contribute to strengthening food security, exports, and employment generation for a speedy economic recovery.”

To date, the Dominican Republic has received donations and support programmes from organisations such as the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, the United Nations Development Program, the Central American Bank for Economic Integration, among others. Likewise, China takes on an increasingly prominent role in terms of aid and sale of vaccines to the Dominican state.

Statistics regarding donations show information received and registries as of July 2020, with 118 registered international cooperation donations: 82 from multilateral partners, 30 from bilateral partners, and six from regional partners. Fifty-seven percent of the donations were made in kind. For beneficiary agencies, 62 percent was destined to the health sector, 26 to social assistance, and the rest divided into general administration, risk management, agriculture, and other sectors.

Santo Domingo, April 4, 2021 (MIC)

To date, the Ministry of Public Health (MSP) authorities in the Dominican Republic reported a total of 252,727 positive cases for the covid-19 disease in the country. The daily positivity stands at 12.19 percent and that of the last four weeks, at 12.48 percent, an indicator that, according to the government, "continues to decline steadily."

The country has registered 3,325 deaths from the virus, with a fatality of 1.32 and mortality per million people, at 318.23.

Regarding the vaccination process, the DR is among the five Latin American countries with the best rate of immunization against covid-19, according to data from the Our World in Data web portal, until March 6. In the last week of the month, the MSP reported about 803 vaccination centers scattered throughout the national territory. Similarly, the Minister of Health, Dr. Daniel Rivera, said that "so far more than 910,869 doses have been applied and of these 54,395 the second."

A new donor

The Dominican Republic has received donations and support programs from organizations such as the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, the United Nations Development Program, the Central American Bank for Economic Integration, among others. Similarly, an aspect to highlight in recent months is the increase in Chinese cooperation in the country, especially that related to the fight against the pandemic.

In recent days, the Dominican Government, through the Vice Ministry of International Cooperation, of the Ministry of Economy, Planning, and Development (MEPyD), received from the People's Republic of China the donation of 64 ventilators and 100,000 protective masks for use by medical personnel to strengthen the capacity of the health sector. The Vice Minister of International Cooperation of the Dominican Republic, Olaya Dotel, and the Ambassador of the People's Republic of China, Zhang Run, signed an Act of Understanding and Responsibility on the arrival of the batch of vaccines from the Asian nation.

The Vice President of the Republic and Coordinator of the Health Cabinet, Raquel Peña, indicated that the "donation demonstrates the cooperation and brotherhood between the People's Republic of China and the Dominican Republic." While the Vice Minister of International Cooperation and National Organizer of the European Funds for Development, Olaya Dotel Caraballo, thanked the Chinese diplomatic mission on behalf of the Ministry of Economy, Planning, and Development, the governing body of international cooperation in the country. for their collaboration, will, and continued generosity in the face of this difficult situation, from which "we are fully confident that we will emerge stronger and more united."

Likewise, at the beginning of March, President Luis Abinader thanked the Chinese government for donating 50,000 vaccines, in addition to the shipment of one million doses that the Dominican Republic had acquired with Sinovac, a pharmaceutical laboratory in that country.

"Thanks to the Chinese Government and its President, Xi Jinping, for authorizing the export permit of 1 million vaccines and donating 50,000 more to continue the vaccination process," the president said in a publication on his Twitter account.

Also in March, the government released details about the agreement signed with the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI) in which a non-reimbursable financial cooperation of up to 500 thousand dollars is granted to the Dominican Government to continue contributing to curb the effects of the pandemic.

This item is in addition to the donation that CABEI granted in March 2020, as well as the delivery of extraction kits and other supplies and medical equipment to face the impacts and effects of the COVID-19 pandemic for an amount of close to US $ 2,406 million.

The agreement signed between the Dominican Government and the CABEI Representation Office in the Dominican Republic indicates that in coordination with the Ministry of Economy, Planning and Development they will be in charge of “monitoring all matters related to this cooperation and that the supervision of the Cooperation will be carried out in accordance with the rules and procedures established by CABEI for this purpose”.

The specific document that the resources of this cooperation will be delivered through a single disbursement to the executing agency designated by the beneficiary. This corresponding executing agency must also collaborate with CABEI in organizing and conducting field visits that CABEI deems appropriate.

In another aspect, so far, we have only been able to identify a formal report that details international cooperation due to the pandemic. An infographic placed on the MEPyD website, with the title of Registration statistics of donations made by institutions or organizations. of International Cooperation to the Dominican Republic in assistance to the covid-19 emergency.

These statistics show information received and registries as of July 24, 2020, with 118 registered international cooperation donations: 82 from multilateral partners, 30 from bilateral partners, and six from regional partners. Fifty-seven percent of the donations were made in kind. According to the beneficiary, 62 percent destined to the health sector, 26 to social assistance, and the rest divided into general administration, risk management, agriculture, and other sectors.

The 30 international cooperation partners are divided among 13 multilateral:

• United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)

• United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)

• International Atomic Energy Agency

• Joint United Nations Program on HIV / AIDS (UNAIDS)

• Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)

• United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF)

• United Nations Development Program (UNDP)

• International Organization for Migration (IOM)

• World Food Program (WFP)

• United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)

• Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) / World Health Organization (WHO)

• United Nations System (UNS)

• European Union (EU)

13 bilateral:

Canada, Colombia, South Korea, Costa Rica, United Arab Emirates, Spain, United States, France, India, Japan, People's Republic of China, Russia, and Turkey.

And four regional:

• Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI)

• Inter-American Development Bank (IDB)

• Development Bank of Latin America (CAF)

• Ibero-American General Secretariat (SEGIB)

The main items donated are divided between personal protective equipment (19 percent); training and awareness tools and materials (17 percent); laboratory (13 percent); technical assistance (12 percent); medical equipment (ten percent); disinfection products (seven percent); food and beverages (four percent) and other items (18 percent).

So far, we could identify approximately 1,137 billion dollars in loans and 4,250,000 million dollars in grants.

Decentralization

For this report, we interviewed Juan Castillo, Fundación Solidaridad's executive director, an entity that has been developing projects aimed at strengthening the advocacy capacity of civil society organizations, participatory municipal management, promoting transparency and training for civil society organizations and city councils on the issues related to local development.

According to Castillo, the management of international cooperation in the Dominican Republic can be described as transparent since it complies with the countries' rules and procedures that manage it and is channeled through open and competitive public calls.

 Despite this, he considers that cooperation does not pass at the same intensity as expressed in large urban centers, with an imbalance in the distribution of resources between small provinces and municipalities and large cities.

"The main risk is dependence on foreign aid to the detriment of the capacity for self-development as a nation. It is taking cooperation as fundamental and not as a lever to promote national development", Castillo said. "The other risk is corruption, which, like an evil embedded in all spheres of society, is expressed wherever there are economic resources."

For this reason, it recommends that cooperation resources managed by the State should take into account the participation of civil society organizations and citizens in mechanisms that allow the identification of sectoral and territorial priorities, as well as in the monitoring and control of the execution of those resources.

Fundación Solidaridad was able to redirect resources and actions to address COVID within the framework of several projects with funding from the European Union. According to Castillo, citizens should be better informed through their organizations, and that maintain an informative flow that allows them to know and monitor issues related to cooperation.

 "The priorities of the cooperation processes should be defined with citizen participation and with a focus on decentralization and local development so that most of the resources of the same are not concentrated in the big cities", Castillo said.

Transparency

Although various initiatives have been announced to make international cooperation processes transparent (including the National System of International Cooperation for Development, which ensures dialogue between government institutions, sources of cooperation and civil society organizations, the private sector, and universities), the information available on the projects that receive funds within the framework of the pandemic is almost nil and not very visible.

Although in the section of the Vice Ministry of International Cooperation, there is the Non-reimbursable International Cooperation Report (an annual document, prepared since 2013, to publicize the results of international cooperation management in the country and the characteristics and trend of Official Development Assistance), the report for the 2020 period has not yet been published.

Santo Domingo, February 28, 2021 (MIC)

COVID-19 was first detected in the Dominican Republic on March 1, 2020. The first death occurred on March 16, 2020 and involved a national who had arrived from a trip to Spain.

On March 17, then President Danilo Medina declared a State of Emergency and closed the country’s borders for 15 days from March 19, 2020. 

A change in political administration following elections on July 5, 2020 brought an acceleration of efforts to stem rapid economic declines. Tourism revenues had collapsed and there were fears that financial inflows from overseas remittances would have continued to decline sharply.

Several countries and international institutions have contributed toward support for pandemic measures imposed by the country.

United Nations Development Programme – UNDP

The UNDP was active from the first moment of the arrival of the pandemic. But, in December 2020, the Dominican Government together with the United Nations System, the European Union, the World Bank, and the Inter-American Development Bank, “evaluated the needs for recovery due to the social and economic effects caused by the pandemic in DR, to identify the priorities and actions necessary to mitigate the impacts and accelerate the recovery in a comprehensive manner.”

During that meeting, it was also announced that “there is the participation of a technical team of more than 70 national and international experts from international cooperation, which include UNDP, FAO, WFP, UNICEF, UNESCO, UNFPA, UNHCR, ILO, PAHO/WHO, UN-Women, ECLAC, World Bank, European Union, and IDB.”

Accordingly, President Luis Abinader reaffirmed that his government would be supported by the UNDP to carry out purchases and acquisitions.

UNDP also made several recommendations to the State regarding its policy options in the face of stringent pandemic measures. It also joined municipal entities in support of increased productivity and resilience against COVID-19.

Some initiatives include:

A grant of US$250,000 to accompany the country “in a resilient and sustainable recovery focused on real-time monitoring and analysis of the needs of key sectors and the most vulnerable people.”

With funding from the Popular Foundation and the Association of Pension Fund Administrators of the Dominican Republic, UNDP acquired 25 hospital ventilators valued at US$482,500.

Provision of 15 medical ventilators to assist people in critical health, representing an investment of US$350,000 through Ministry of Economy, Planning, and Development).

Within the UNDP alliance framework with the National District Mayor's Office “Santo Domingo Always Transparent and Inclusive”, one million masks and pairs of gloves were delivered in the National District.

The Ministry of Industry and Commerce (MICM) and the UNDP launched the initiative Acceleration 2030 to identify experiences and success stories to mitigate the effects of COVID-19.

CABEI

In February 2021, the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI) approved US$4 million for a non-reimbursable financial cooperation programme to provide the amount of $500,000 to each of the Sistema de la Integración Centroamericana (SICA) countries - among them, the Dominican Republic.

United States of America

The United States Government has invested more than US $1 billion in the long-term health and development of the Dominican Republic during the last 20 years, which includes almost US $298 million in healthcare. 

By September 2020, that nation had donated US 3.7 million dollars of health assistance destined to the fight against COVID-19 in the country. These include the following initiatives:

In mid-April 2020, the United States allocated US$ 1.4 million to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. Through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the United States Southern Command, 50 ventilators and two mobile hospitals worth US$ 950,000 were delivered.

Through the United States Southern Command, eight Hamilton T1 fans worth US$200,000 were received.

Families at risk for nutritional deficiencies received 193 food kits worth US$ 10,000, through the Office of Humanitarian Assistance of the USAID in collaboration with Plan International.

India

Immunisation of the Dominican population against the pandemic in the country began formally on Tuesday, February 16, with the first Covishield (Oxford-AstraZeneca) vaccine in the territory.

The country received 30,000 vaccines from India to continue the vaccination programme which started with the arrival of the first batch of 20,000 doses.

China

The diplomatic shift that came with the installation of a new government in July 2020 changed the dynamic of the country’s relations with China, whose influence was diminished in the face of strengthened ties with the United States.

China has however contributed to COVID-19 measures through several donations including: 50,000 protective masks for medical use; 400,000 surgical masks; 5,000 disposable medical protective clothing pieces. And 10,000 nucleic acid diagnostic kits for the detection of the virus were also received.