addis ababa the eastern africa regions labour market has been the worst hit on the continent from the impact of the covid19 pandemic as an estimated 38 million jobs lostwhen the covid19 pandemic sent the global economy into a recession the east africa region was not spared according to a new report published on wednesday by the un economic commission for africa uneca entitled economic and social impacts of covid19 in eastern africapresenting the report during the ongoing 24 meeting of the intergovernmental committee of senior officials and experts mama keita head of eca in eastern africa said that the region will barely grow in 2020 with only four countries on track to experience positive growth in 2020 according to an eca statement issued on wednesdayfigures from the eca shows that the four east african countries on track to experience positive growth in 2020 include south sudan with 41 per cent gdp growth followed by ethiopia and tanzania with close to 2 per cent and kenya with 1 per centeastern africas growth will slow down considerably to 06 per cent in 2020 from 66 per cent in 2019 it was notedkeita also stressed that the covid19 pandemic amplified debt vulnerabilities in the regionbefore the crisis there were five countries with debttogdp ratios exceeding 50 per cent in 2019 burundi eritrea ethiopia kenya and seychelles now the pandemic has increased the likelihood for this problem to worsen in the region and spread to more countries she saidon the social side keita explained that even though eastern africa has a lower incidence of covid19 cases compared to the rest of africa most countries present critical gaps in their national health systemsthe report also noted that in terms of the financing of the health system as well as its quality and adequacy east africa was unfortunately illprepared for a pandemicmost of the eastern african countries spend less than 50 us dollars per capita on health which is less than half of the african average which is of 114 us dollars per capita per year the report readthe report highlighted that the right balance and sequence between health and economic and social policy interventions continues to be criticalit also stresses the impact of covid19 on education leading to school closures that affected 96 million learners in eastern africakeita said that while many governments have introduced remote teaching strategies access to technologies such as the internet television and radio is limited in lowincome countries especially among poorest householdsthe report also called on policymakers in africa to harness digitalization and digital trade as the pandemic has highlighted the importance of the digital economyfirms employees and students with access to digital infrastructure have not been as economically affected by the pandemic as those with no access the report readeast africa is one of the least covid19 affected regions in africa in which according to the latest figures from the africa centers for disease control and prevention africa cdc the number of confirmed covid19 cases in the region