Why Africa should take a bow

The WHO says Africa is now the least impacted region in the world with less than 5% of reported cases and less than 1% of all deaths, despite having 17% of the global population. By contrast, the US, with 4% of the global population, has suffered 25% of Covid-19 deaths. Solomon Zewdu, deputy director for global development in Africa for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, said the dire predictions of how the pandemic would ravage the continent missed the mark so widely that it has left modellers and public health experts scratching their heads. In an analysis on the allAfrica site, he salutes several countries for acting swiftly when the Covid-19 wave began to surge. ‘In January, even as many Western nations hesitated, Ethiopia began intensive screening at Addis Ababa airport. We also know that Africa CDC created its Covid-19 task force on 5 February, before the continent had a single case. We know that Rwanda became the first African nation to lock down on 21 March and that many other African countries soon followed. SA implemented its comprehensive lockdown when it had only 400 cases and two fatalities. (With a similar-sized population, Italy had more than 9 000 cases and 400 deaths when it acted.)’ Zewdu points out that most African countries acted swiftly in the face of great economic risk. ‘More than 80% of Africa's population work in the informal sector, often living on daily earnings – and with far more limited resources than the US and Europe. And because those regions had to focus on their own crises, Africa responded, for the most part, alone. African heads of state deserve much credit, but this swift and effective response was only possible because of the support and sacrifice of the people.’