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Amid the multiple theories and misinformation spreading around COVID-19 in Africa, it is important for African governments to consider strengthening existing health systems and infrastructure and allocating substantial funds for health research and the production of basic equipment , to achieve the sustainable development goals established in the African Agenda 2063, according to experts.
Over the years, most African countries, with the exception of South Africa, Botswana, and a few others, have not greatly improved their health system since independence, in part as a result of sheer neglect by senior officials who prefer to be Treaties abroad. The leaders of Cameroon, Nigeria and Zimbabwe are known for spending long periods of time abroad in hospitals, according to Dr. Chipo Dendere, a professor of African Zimbabwean Policy at Wellesley College in Massachusetts.
As Dendere later pointed out in a discussion with IDN, “African leaders must begin to think seriously about health issues or people will die. They must realize that traveling abroad is no longer an option. In general, it is important for leaders focus on financing a sustainable public health system, making investments in the health sector using public and natural resources. Public / private partnerships have never hurt, but should be seriously considered. “
Particularly because Africa’s population is growing and presents future health challenges, he added. Dendere, however, emphasized that various debt relief efforts by international organizations should not be an end in itself, and instead African leaders must necessarily seek long-term solutions to existing pitfalls in the sector.
In April, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB) offered debt relief to African countries. The IMF will provide $ 11 billion to 32 countries in sub-Saharan Africa that have requested assistance to combat the coronavirus pandemic and its impact on the region’s economies.
These steps by the IMF and its partners (the World Bank, the World Health Organization, the African Development Bank, and the African Union) will support national measures, including transfers to vulnerable households, monetary and fiscal policy responses, Abebe Aemro Selassie, director of the IMF’s African Department, said in a statement.
In a similar argument, Charles Prempeh, professor of African Studies at the African University Communications Faculty (AUCC), Accra and PhD candidate at Cambridge University, explained in an email to IDN that there are many shortcomings, ranging from poor health policies through inadequate financing of the health infrastructure for training and research, which have characterized the health sector in Africa.
In his opinion, amid the rapid spread of the coronavirus in some regions, it is simply “providential” that the African continent has not registered high numbers, compared to western countries. But it is also true that, even with the relatively fewer cases that most African countries have recorded, they have suffered disproportionate strain.
Prempreh argued that over the years, many African leaders traveled abroad (including South Africa) in search of medical care. While many African countries have research institutions designed to study so-called orthodox and indigenous medicines, the existence of these institutions has not yielded the expected results of improving the quality of medical care on the continent, he said, adding: “In In many cases, these health research institutions have run out of funds. “
Consequently, many African countries are looking west to find an antidote to COVID-19 that has held the world hostage. This has implied that few Africans have invested in exploring the extent to which indigenous medicine could provide an answer to the current health crisis. Therefore, it is not surprising that the COVID-19 pandemic provides lenses to look into the deep cracks of the entire health system in Africa. It also provides important lessons for African leaders to now learn to invest in the health sector, Prempreh concluded.
Beyond all the arguments raised above, Dr. Antipas Massawe, a former professor in the Department of Chemical and Mining Engineering at the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania, East Africa, strongly insisted that “the scale of the challenges facing the The health sector is tremendous, it requires a large investment of resources and the state to focus directly on the development agenda. “
Massawe added that “compared to most other advanced countries that have competitive health services worldwide, recognizing that Africa is a great continent of great inequality where almost two thirds still live in extreme poverty and years of neglect have left to the ruined health system. ” systems, African countries spend peanuts on budget to strengthen health infrastructure in Africa. “
African governments should create an enabling environment for the evolution of competitive health systems through prioritization. Governments must work to enhance wealth-creation efforts, take a system approach to understand the interdependence of African problems, and outline how to address largely weak health questions as quickly as possible, he suggested.
The Economic Commission for Africa (CEPA), in a new report on the coronavirus pandemic, stressed that the economic implications of this disease are detrimental not only to public health systems but also to the economy and socio-cultural life of the entire population. from Africa.
CEPA explicitly makes clear that, as the pandemic continues to affect the continent’s struggling economies, whose growth is expected to slow from 3.2 percent to 1.8 percent, in this short period it is likely to push to near 27 million people into extreme poverty.
The report released virtually in mid-April titled “COVID-19: Protecting African Lives and Economies” says that Africa’s fragile health systems may see additional costs imposed on them due to the growing crisis to date. in thousands of infected Africans. .
Dr. Vera Songwe, UN Under-Secretary-General and ECA Executive Secretary said: “To protect and build towards the shared prosperity of the continent, $ 100 billion is needed to urgently and immediately provide fiscal space to all countries to help to address the immediate needs of the population safety net. “
Africa, Songwe notes, is particularly susceptible because 56 percent of its urban population is concentrated in slums or “informal” housing, and only 34 percent of African households have access to basic hand-washing facilities. Among others, he proposes that intellectual property of medical supplies, novel test kits and vaccines be shared to help Africa’s private sector play its role in the response, and most importantly, policies must be firm and clear on the good governance to safeguard health systems, ensure adequate use of emergency funds.
In a widely circulated letter, several co-signatories in April, including 100 leading scholars and writers, have called on African leaders to rule with compassion and view the current global health crisis as an opportunity for a radical change of direction. “Like a tectonic storm, the COVID-19 pandemic threatens to break the foundations of states and institutions whose deep failings have been ignored for too long. It is impossible to list them, suffice it to mention the chronic lack of investment in public health” in Africa takes note of the letter.
As a continent familiar with pandemic outbreaks, Africa has an advantage in managing large-scale health crises. But the belief is that “emergency” cannot and should not constitute a mode of government. However, beyond the state of emergency, African leaders can and should propose to their societies a new political idea for Africa, the letter says.
Consequently, he continues, the coronavirus pandemic reveals the deficit of a collective continental response, both in the health sector and in other sectors. More than ever, we ask leaders to reflect on the need to take a concerted approach to governance sectors related to public health, fundamental research across disciplines, and public policy.
Similarly, health must be conceived as an essential public good, the status of health workers must be improved, the hospital infrastructure must be upgraded to a level that allows everyone, including leaders themselves, to receive adequate treatment in Africa. . Furthermore, failure to implement these reforms would be cataclysmic. Because it is in the most difficult moments that new / innovative directions must be explored and durable solutions adopted.
Today, Africa comprises 54 sovereign countries, most of which have borders drawn during the era of European colonialism. However, in the 21st century, the number of armed conflicts in Africa has steadily decreased.
Improved stability and economic reforms have led to a large increase in foreign investment in many African nations, mainly China, which has stimulated rapid economic growth in many countries, seemingly ending decades of stagnation and decline. Africa runs the risk of borrowing once again, particularly in sub-Saharan African countries.
Although it has abundant natural resources, Africa remains the poorest and least developed continent in the world, the result of a variety of causes that can include corrupt governments and policies laden with dubious methods. Africa is the second largest and most populous continent in the world after Asia. With approximately 1.3 billion people as of 2019, it represents approximately 16% of the world population.
