Dealing With Covid-19, The World Can Learn From Africa – The Covid-19 pandemic has paralyzed African metropolitan cities. In Johannesburg, the capital of South Africa, the military was mobilized to oversee the implementation of the curfew. In Kampala, Uganda’s capital, which is usually crowded, markets and shops are closed. Public transportation in many places does not operate, except for transporting and delivering goods.
Ahmed Ogwell Ouma, deputy director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC Africa, praised the government’s rapid actions in anticipation of an outbreak. This is a lesson we learned during the 2014 Ebola crisis in West Africa, he said.
We are quick to intervene, with the means, knowledge and trusted social partners in the eyes of the community.
Dealing With Covid-19, The World Can Learn From Africa
So far, said Ahmed Ogwell Ouma, recorded infection rates are still low. But experts worry the situation can change quickly. In many places, health facilities and facilities are far from adequate.
Africa is not a “helpless victim”
WHO World Health Organization warns, Covid-19 could hit Africa with a worse impact than other regions in the world. But Africa is not “a helpless pandemic victim,” said Robert Kappel, an African expert at the University of Leipzig, Germany.
Africa also has experience that can be learned (the world). The continent of Africa is not only a continent of pandemics, health crises and economic crises, as many people perceive, Robert Kappel told DW. Africa has to handle many things with its own hands, and in very different ways.
According to Gavin Churchyard, director of the Aurum Institute health care institute in South Africa, the concept of keeping a safe distance and controlling infection is not new to most Africans, who have a long history of battling tuberculosis (TB) and lung disease. With a few modifications, existing educational material on TB, for example, can be used in the fight against COVID-19.
Unlike some countries in other regions, African countries choose scientific solutions, he said.
Robert Kappel also praised the local commitment of innovative small and medium-sized companies. They have become important actors in the production of medical devices, such as face masks or disinfectants
There is a lot that can be learned here, there is a lot of local knowledge available in African countries, he said. Many companies play an important role in supplying medical equipment to residents. Poker Online Banten
Involvement of local communities and village heads
The experience dealing with the Ebola outbreak and other infectious diseases shows that the problem is not always a matter of the amount of international aid or the amount of funds spent, said Robert Kappel. But indeed it will be necessary if the number of infections increases rapidly and the crisis is out of control.
But in the initial phase, what is important to limit the spread of the virus is the involvement of local communities, civil society organizations and village heads. Because the corona virus is slower to come to Africa than other continents, there is more time to prepare.
African intellectuals in two open letters to governments in the region recently called for Africa to provide “a strong and sustained response to a real threat (corona virus), which should not be exaggerated or underestimated, but handled rationally.”
Africa must emerge stronger after this crisis, they said. The health system must change, with locally processed raw materials, and a more diverse economic structure. Dealing With Covid-19, The World Can Learn From Africa.