Africa as a regional block has just 1.5% of the world’s reported cases of Covid-19, and less than 0.1%of the world’s deaths, the World Health Organization said on May 25.
Does this mean African nations – bar a few exceptions – are successfully containing the coronvirus or is a dearth of testing in some areas, and high proportions of asymptomatic cases, painting a false picture?
WHO Africa’s Emergency Operations Manager Dr Michel Yao says early response measures in particular were key to accelerating preparedness efforts and containment measures. Other factors including relatively young populations, too, may account for a less dire Covid-19 prognosis in Africa, he said.
Asymptomatic cases, however, are many and may be concealing the true reach of the coronavirus on the continent, he said.
Meanwhile, older deadly diseases loom large as resources are diverted to the Covid-19 response in many areas, WHO warned in May.
Children in the Democratic Republic of Congo haven’t been vaccinated against measles this year. Polio is making a comeback in Nigeria. In Cameroon, where malaria is rampant, a state-run program switched to phone consultations after half of its staff was deployed to help Covid-19 patients. In southern Africa, where millions live with tuberculosis and HIV, treatment centers have been converted into Covid-19 wards.
Even if the coronavirus is kept at bay, a quiet and deadly health catastrophe is brewing in Africa from age-old diseases that have overnight taken a back seat to the pandemic. As scarce resources are diverted to cap Covid-19 cases and the fear of infection deters people from visiting medical facilities, diseases that health organizations have been trying for decades to eradicate — from malaria to yellow fever and HIV to tuberculosis — are set to surge.
“We are deeply concerned about the potential impact on HIV, TB and malaria,” said Peter Sands, head of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, which spends more than $4 billion a year in over 100 countries. “The indirect cost in terms of lives could be greater than the direct cost from Covid.”
Africa, which regionally has less than 1% of the world’s financial resources, carries more than 22% of the global disease burden, according to the World Health Organization. Even before the coronavirus pandemic struck, about a million people died every year across the continent from malaria and tuberculosis alone.
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It is 1% not 0.1%