Regionalism’s role in fighting pandemic
ONE prediction at the outbreak of Covid-19 was that Africa could be the epicentre of fatalities from the pandemic.
This hasn’t happened. The record of rate of infections, fatalities and recoveries shows that Africa is the secondleast affected region of the world.
The fear that Africa would be the epicentre of the pandemic was fuelled by a few factors. One was the presence of overcrowded informal settlements.
Another was weak systems in many countries and the inadequate number of medical personnel across the board.
Hospitals lack critical equipment such as testing kits, personal protective equipment and oxygen machines.
Most countries adopted national strategies, such as closing borders. Others took a more regional approach.
In a recent study I looked at what role regionalism played.
I concluded that a regional approach did help in containing the pandemic because of the opportunity it provided for sharing resources, information, training and testing. For example, effective monitoring and deployment of testing equipment at the borders contributed to limiting cross-border transmission of the virus.
But I also concluded that for the future, there is a need to build more regional health infrastructure that can help the continent manage new epidemic outbreaks.
Since March 2020, African countries have adopted various measures to manage the Covid-19 pandemic. Beyond the national responses were continental and regional approaches under the auspices of the AU through the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention and the regional economic communities.
From March 2020, the AU took the lead in co-ordinating a continental response to the management of the pandemic. The political and bureaucratic leadership of the AU, represented by Moussa Faki Mahamat, chairperson of the AU Commission, and Cyril Ramaphosa, chairperson of the AU at the time, mobilised stakeholders from the private sector and international community to contribute to the fund.
They also appealed to the international community for assistance. The duo invited the private sector and the international community to contribute to the Covid-19 Solidarity Fund.
This money was needed to procure health equipment, create awareness, and address the economic fallout.
The AU also called on institutions such as the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention and regional economic communities to train and equip health officials at regional and continental levels.
These institutions came into being as part of the ongoing regionalisation processes in Africa. For instance, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention was established in 2016 in response to previous epidemics like Sars and Ebola.
In some instances, some of the eight regional economic communities on the continent also played a part. For example, in West Africa, the Economic Community of West African States built on the previous experiences of managing Ebola to co-ordinate the activities of member countries.
Africa is not yet out of the woods. However, the use of a regional approach has contributed to mobilising resources towards the AU Covid-19 response fund. The recent donation of $1.3 billion (R18.5bn) by the Mastercard Foundation would further help in procurement of vaccines and managing future pandemics. This money will help small states which might not otherwise be able to access resources.