Women step up, fill the gaps in Burkina Faso’s virus fight

KAYA, Burkina Faso (AP) — Mariama Sawadogo sits in a small studio, translating notes from French to the local language of Moore and scribbling talking points in the margins. Transmission, prevention, vaccination — Sawadogo hits these topics in her bimonthly radio show on Zama FM, interviewing doctors and nurses about Covid-19 and testing callers on their knowledge.

Many guests and listeners in Burkina Faso call her "aunty" as she gently guides them to the right answers and awards prizes such as soap and washing buckets.

Sawadogo's voice has become a familiar sound for nearly a million people in her town of Kaya and beyond, northeast of the capital in this West African country, where many feel the government has let them down during the pandemic. Hungry for any information about the virus, mothers huddle together outside to tune in to Sawadogo's show, sharing rare mobile phones in slivers of shade while their children play nearby.

Tests, vaccines and public* messaging often miss many of the country's 20 million residents, despite a $200 million budget for virus response efforts. In a region where women are responsible for family work and community relationships, they've stepped up to provide a collective authoritative voice, make and deliver supplies, and find ways to support their families through the economic crisis.

"They didn't help us," Mamounata Ouedraogo said of the government. "If we expected to get our information from them, we would never have any."

Like Sawadogo, she lives in Kaya, one of the last safe havens in the conflict-plagued country, where tens of thousands of displaced people have sought shelter as violence that spilled over from neighboring Mali in 2015 escalates and jihadi attacks encroach on major towns. Ouedraogo listens to all of

Sawadogo's shows and said she'd know little about the virus without them.

Norbert Ramde, head of Burkina Faso's doctors' association, said diseases like malaria, AIDS and tuberculosis are higher priorities for the government and medical community — and beyond disease, jihadis are the biggest threat.

"Do you want us to take all the resources to combat Covid-19 and forget about this?" he said. "We have to invest in that, too."

But Burkina Faso was hard hit when the pandemic struck last March, recording some of Africa's highest infection numbers and death rates. Officials implemented curfews, sealed the landlocked country's borders, and closed mosques, churches, schools and markets. Many residents protested and, after just a few weeks, most restrictions were lifted.