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549COVID-19
and Africa: Does âOne Size Fit Allâ in Public Health Intervention?
COVID-19 supplies such as test kits, ventilators, and professional-
grade personal protective equipment (PPE). Accordingly, global pub-
lic health analysts worry that Africa may be overrun by COVID-19.21
In a headline-catching remark, Melinda Gates stated in April 2020 that
â[t]he disease is going to bite hard on the continent. I see some dead
bodies in the streets of Africa.â22
With the worldâs lowest levels of per capita health expenditure,
and with underdeveloped health sectors, most African nationsâ path
of least resistance in fighting the pandemic lies in early preventive
action more than in therapeutic or management measures. However,
the opportunity for early action has, in many countries, been missedâ
at least in respect of the first wave. Working in the continentâs favour,
however, are its past experiences with infectious diseases and public
health emergencies.23 Also, necessity is the time-tested incubator of
innovation. Thus, the prognosis for Africa does not necessarily have
to be bleak.24 Africans are capitalizing on new technologies, such as
3D printing and drones, to localize and scale responses to COVID-19.
South African innovators have invented the intubox (intubation box),
which provides an additional layer of protection for ICU medical per-
sonnel conducting and monitoring intubation procedures.25 Nigeriaâs
military R&D has been brought to bear on production of ventilators
and PPE, using local materials.26 South African and Ugandan military
and law enforcement personnel have been deployed to deliver relief
supplies to the vulnerable.27
21. See International Monetary Fund, supra note 4; McKinsey & Company, supra
note 19.
22. See Africa Check, âMelinda Gates Said She Feared Coronavirus in Africa Would
Lead to Dead Being Put Out in Street, as in Ecuadorâ (20 April 2020), online:
Africa Check <https://bit.ly/2YSCMBT>.
23. See Esther Yie Mokuwa et al, âCovid-19: What Africa Can Learn from Africa â
Community Care Centresâ (17 April 2020), online: AfricanÂ
Arguments <https://bit.
ly/3c92c20>.
24. Ibid.
25. See âS. African Doctors Design Virus âBoxâ to Prevent Infectionâ, France24
(16 April 2020), online: <https://bit.ly/3ca6IgF>.
26. See âNigerian Military Begins Mass Production of Ventilators, PPE Kitsâ
(21 April 2020), online: Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission <https://bit.
ly/2xCNkdc>.
27. See South African Government, Media Statement, âDefence on Reserve Force
Call Up to Combat Coronavirus COVID-19â (23 April 2020), online: South African
Government Newsroom <https://bit.ly/2SF4jCU>; Shi Yinglun âUganda Starts
Food Relief Distribution Amid COVID-19 Lockdownâ, Xinhuanet (4 April 2020),
online: <https://bit.ly/2Ww6SbQ>.
VULNERABLE
The Law, Policy and Ethics of COVID-19
- Titel
- VULNERABLE
- Untertitel
- The Law, Policy and Ethics of COVID-19
- Autoren
- Vanessa MacDonnell
- Jane Philpott
- Sophie Thériault
- Sridhar Venkatapuram
- Verlag
- Ottawa Press
- Datum
- 2020
- Sprache
- englisch
- Lizenz
- CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
- ISBN
- 9780776636429
- Abmessungen
- 15.2 x 22.8 cm
- Seiten
- 648
- Kategorien
- Coronavirus
- International