Integrity Score 1712
No Records Found
No Records Found
No Records Found
On 11 March 2020, just months after the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus was first identified in China, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 to be a public health emergency of international concern. Over the next two years COVID-19 would go on to infect nearly half a billion people, killing over 6 million around the world. Governments introduced strict lockdowns with stay-at-home orders that shut down the global economy. Now, most of the world is opening up. The Conversation Africa spoke to public health experts based in Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa to get their take on the biggest lessons so far.
Early days
Catherine Kyobutungi, Kenya: After the first few cases were confirmed, most countries followed a similar script. This involved lockdowns, social distancing and hand hygiene. A few months later, differences started emerging between countries. There are countries like Uganda and Rwanda that took a more public health approach, focusing on trying to stop infection at all costs. And those, like Kenya, that took a more economic approach, focusing on minimising the effect of lockdowns. Of course Tanzania was in a league of its own when it stopped all public health measures that were recommended at the time.
Once differences emerged, they were quite stark and often led to misunderstandings between countries. For instance, while Uganda and Rwanda were testing all arrivals at their land borders (mostly truck drivers), for several weeks, Kenya and Tanzania were not.
These differences are a symptom of a larger issue: the near absence of a harmonised regional pandemic response. This was a global pandemic. But countries crafted individual responses – even in situations where a regional approach would have been more appropriate.
Michelle Groome, South Africa The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of providing up-to-date data as well as national and global data sharing. When SARS-CoV-2 first appeared, we did not have a lot of data on which to base clinical and public health decisions.
Read more at The Conversation: https://theconversation.com/wins-missteps-and-lessons-african-experts-reflect-on-two-years-of-covid-response-178904
Image Credits: A mural along Haile Selassie avenue in Nairobi, Kenya. Boniface Muthoni/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images