Africa urged to learn from others
As continent starts to reopen, world’s experience with pandemic offers insight
As African countries start to reopen their economies after strict lockdowns that were implemented in March due to COVID-19, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, or ECA, is urging the continent to learn from the experience and experiments of other regions.
While the continent has much work to do in terms of putting in place the right systems to address the coronavirus pandemic, the ECA said that African countries had the advantage of currently being further behind other countries and regions in their infection trajectories.
“African nations can use the ‘extra time’ afforded by the lockdowns to rapidly put in place testing, treatment systems, preventive measures, and carefully design lockdown exit strategies in collaboration with communities and vulnerable groups,” the UN agency said.
As of May 11, there were 66,373 confirmed cases across Africa, including 2,336 deaths, according to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, or the Africa CDC.
In hard-hit South Africa, there were a total of 10,652 confirmed cases as of May 11 and its death toll stood at 206, Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said.
To contain the spread of the virus, Mkhize said that the number of people attending funerals had to be limited to fewer than 50, as funerals have become a hot spot for infections.
Schools in Benin reopened on May 11, with strict instructions on distance, hygiene and distribution of masks, after several weeks of closure. As of May 12, the country had reported 319 cases and 2 deaths, according to the Africa CDC.
At least 42 African countries have enforced partial or full lockdowns in their quest to curtail the pandemic. But South Africa, Botswana and Nigeria have started to steadily loosen their lockdowns.
Among the most sensitive issues facing policymakers is the impact of lockdowns on food security. The ECA estimated that a one-month full lockdown across Africa would cost the continent about 2.5 percent of its annual GDP, equivalent to about $65.7 billion per month.
In a report, “COVID-19 Lockdown Exit Strategies for Africa”, published on May 10, ECA proposed exit strategies that have been tried around the world and outlined the risks involved for African countries.
The strategies include testing, contact tracing, lockdown until preventive or curative medicines are developed, gradual segmented reopening, immunity permits, adaptive triggering and mitigation.
Under adaptive triggering, the ECA said nations could ease lockdowns once infections declined and reimpose them if they began to rise above intensive-care capacity.
The UN agency said an important consideration for many countries following the gradual segmented reopening strategy was the prioritization of economic sectors and the sequencing of their reopening.
It said no decision-maker knew the true spread of the virus within their country hence any exit strategy bore considerable risk.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said one of the primary strategies for curbing spread of the virus in vulnerable communities should be to engage the local youth and youth networks.
Greenway International Foundation, a Ghana-based, youth-driven environmental protection organization, has partnered with Nigeriabased World Youth Summit and United Nations Youth Association to provide relief to communities.
Michael Olusanya, the organization’s founder and director, said they have been distributing sanitizers, liquid soap and masks, as well as educating the community on how to reduce the virus’ spread.
They have so far distributed 3,000 containers of homemade liquid soap, 2,700 containers of hand sanitizers, 1,300 masks, and 320 buckets in Ghana and Nigeria.
On Earth Day, April 22, Greenway organized an online event on videoconferencing platform Zoom where 100 speakers from across the world shared the positive and negative effects of COVID-19 lockdown.