The simple answer is ‘yes’. The more complex answer is really a question: ‘When Covid-19 comes to Africa, what will be the effect?’. To paint a broad brush for the whole of the continent is to be careless. To make assumptions based on western paradigms, foolish. While this is a story still unfolding, the following readings may help alert you to the nuances of context, the plethora of variables as well as the capacity of Africans.
The Economist covering how Africa ‘is woefully unprepared’ Read HERE
NPR – Why Forecasters Can’t Make Up Their Mind About Africa and The Coronavirus. Read full article HERE:
An opinion piece in Al Jazeera, The Problem with Predicting Coronavirus Apocalypse in Africa Read full article HERE
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) cites that Africa will also have advantages in fighting the virus spread: a relatively young population; and, experience fighting infectious disease, including Ebola. Here is their yet to be published review.
World Bank is predicting that sub-Saharan Africa will be entering its first recession in 25 years. Read more HERE
The United Nations has issued a report on the impact of Covid-19 on women and girls:
“The year 2020, marking the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Beijing Platform for Action, was intended to be ground-breaking for gender equality. Instead, with the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic even the limited gains made in the past decades are at risk of being rolled back. The pandemic is deepening pre-existing inequalities, exposing vulnerabilities in social, political and economic systems which are in turn amplifying the impacts of the pandemic.”
Read policy brief HERE
The Malala Fund has released this white paper on the impact of Covid-19 on girls education. Read the white paper HERE.