Addressing Africa’s pandemic puzzle: Perspectives on COVID-19 transmission and mortality in sub-Saharan Africa

Musa, Hassan Hussein; Musa, Taha H.; Musa, Idriss Hussein; Musa, Ibrahim Hussein; Ranciaro, Alessia; Campbell, Michael C.

doi:10.1016/j.ijid.2020.09.1456

Cited by 76 publications

(69 citation statements)

References 70 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Actually, the low intensity and lethality of the national epidemics in most African countries suggest hypothetical protective interactions of the high burden of tuberculosis (and/or BCG coverage) and tropical parasitic diseases, along with the lack of health-care infrastructure capable of clinically detecting and confirming COVID-19 cases, the implementation of social distancing and hygiene, international air traffic flows, the climate, the relatively young and rural population, the genetic polymorphism of the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 receptor, cross-immunity and the use of antimalarial drugs [ [70] , [71] , [72] , [73] , [74] , [75] , [76] , [77] , [78] , [79] , [80] ]. However, the detection of a new variant of the SARS-CoV-2 in South Africa (variant 501Y·V2) in middle December 2020 with preliminary studies suggesting that the variant is associated with a higher viral load, which may suggest potential for increased transmissibility, might challenge the low transmissibility, low lethality trend observed so far in most African Countries [ 81 ].…”

Section: Evidence Of the Syndemic Nature Of The Sars-cov-2 Pandemicmentioning

confidence: 99%

The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic: A syndemic perspective

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has affected communities, populations, and countries throughout the world. As the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic developed, the extent to which the disease interacted with already existing endemic, non-communicable and infectious diseases became evident, hence deeply influencing health outcomes. Additionally, a synergistic effect has been demonstrated also with socio-economic, cultural, and contextual determinants of health which seem to contribute to poorer health and accumulating social disadvantages. In this essay, using as a starting point the syndemic theory that translates the cumulative and intertwined factors between different epidemics, we argue that the SARS-CoV-2 is a one health issue of a syndemic nature and that the failure to acknowledge this contributes to weakened policy-making processes and public health responses and ineffective health policies and programs.

show abstract

Section: Evidence Of the Syndemic Nature Of The Sars-cov-2 Pandemicmentioning

confidence: 99%

The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic: A syndemic perspective

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…While the direct health impact of COVID-19 has not been as dire as expected [ 137 , 138 ], sub-Saharan Africa is not yet adequately pandemic-prepared. Significant gaps exist in the pipeline and in access to critical commodities such as vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

COVID-19 preparedness: capacity to manufacture vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics in sub-Saharan Africa

Bright¹,

Babalola

Sam-Agudu

et al. 2021

Global Health

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Objective The COVID-19 pandemic is a biosecurity threat, and many resource-rich countries are stockpiling and/or making plans to secure supplies of vaccine, therapeutics, and diagnostics for their citizens. We review the products that are being investigated for the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of COVID-19; discuss the challenges that countries in sub-Saharan Africa may face with access to COVID-19 vaccine, therapeutics, and diagnostics due to the limited capacity to manufacture them in Africa; and make recommendations on actions to mitigate these challenges and ensure health security in sub-Saharan Africa during this unprecedented pandemic and future public-health crises. Main body Sub-Saharan Africa will not be self-reliant for COVID-19 vaccines when they are developed. It can, however, take advantage of existing initiatives aimed at supporting COVID-19 vaccine access to resource-limited settings such as partnership with AstraZeneca, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness and Innovation, the Global Alliance for Vaccine and Immunisation, the Serum Institute of India, and the World Health Organization’s COVID-19 Technology Access Pool. Accessing effective COVID-19 therapeutics will also be a major challenge for countries in sub-Saharan Africa, as production of therapeutics is frequently geared towards profitable Western markets and is ill-adapted to sub-Saharan Africa realities. The region can benefit from pooled procurement of COVID-19 therapy by the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention in partnership with the African Union. If the use of convalescent plasma for the treatment of patients who are severely ill is found to be effective, access to the product will be minimally challenging since the region has a pool of recovered patients and human resources that can man supportive laboratories. The region also needs to drive the local development of rapid-test kits and other diagnostics for COVID-19. Conclusion Access to vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics for COVID-19 will be a challenge for sub-Saharan Africans. This challenge should be confronted by collaborating with vaccine developers; pooled procurement of COVID-19 therapeutics; and local development of testing and diagnostic materials. The COVID-19 pandemic should be a wake-up call for sub-Saharan Africa to build vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics manufacturing capacity as one of the resources needed to address public-health crises.

show abstract

“…Many observers feared that COVID-19 would be a public-health calamity and economic disaster for the region, given its limited economic and fi nancial resources and long-standing institutional weaknesses. Instead, COVID-19 cases and especially deaths have been relatively modest by international standards (Musa et al, 2020). In addition, the International Monetary Fund's October 2020 World Economic Forum party of draconian measures, the other the party of lax measures, leaving little room for compromise on middleof-the-road policies.…”

Section: The African Exceptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Individualism, Polarization and Recovery from the COVID-19 Crisis

Eichengreen

2020

Intereconomics

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Political polarization, meaning sharp differences in the political ideologies and preferences of the partisans of different parties, implies that members of one party are more likely to dismiss the policies and recommendations of spokesmen and appointees of the other party on the grounds that those policies and recommendations are informed by value systems inimical to their own. In the US, this means that when spokesmen for one party endorse masks, members of the other party reject them instinctively and automatically.

show abstract

Addressing Africa’s pandemic puzzle: Perspectives on COVID-19 transmission and mortality in sub-Saharan Africa

Cited by 76 publications

References 70 publications

The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic: A syndemic perspective

The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic: A syndemic perspective

COVID-19 preparedness: capacity to manufacture vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics in sub-Saharan Africa

Individualism, Polarization and Recovery from the COVID-19 Crisis

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About