Africa is more than flies on people’s faces
The continent handling COVID.
Recently, Africa has been receiving a lot of attention in the media because of how well they are handling the pandemic.
So far, there has unfortunately been 83.9 million cases worldwide and sadly 1.8million deaths (As of Jan 2, 2021).Out of the 83.9 cases worldwide, 2.7mil cases were reported in Africa; 2.3 million recovered and sadly 66,201 dead (As of Jan 2, 2021).
There’s a pattern with how this information is being publicized; shock. From headlines stating how ‘The pandemic seems to have spared Africa so far’ to ‘Millions were suppose to die’. Headlines like this show the lack of understanding of the continent. We’ve been conditioned to think that the West are the only ones capable of handling themselves during a health scare since they have ‘better resources’ and a ‘higher standard of living’. As a result, people look down on Africa and think they are incapable of handling anything without the help of the western world. Well, they seem to be handling the global pandemic just fine on their own.
If we look at how Africa is portrayed in western media, it’s mainly children with flies on their face, a war zone, the birthplace of ‘thieves’ and so on. When it comes to health in Africa, people always seem to link it with a high mortality rate, so it’s not surprising that people are wondering why a continent ‘lacking in resources’ can be surviving a global pandemic.
A couple things the world should know about how Africa is handling the pandemic.
Firstly, and most importantly, lockdown was enforced at an early stage (even before a single case was reported), curfews were put in place (in countries such as Uganda, South Africa, Sierra Leone), borders were shut, shipping of certain products were reduced and stopped immediately. In other words, Africa acted fast, they weren’t taken any chances. This was done in order to reduce the spread of the virus and protect the members of the public. General hygiene and social distancing protocols were also put in place immediately. For example, in Ghana, transport operators were encouraged to wear masks and wash their hands regularly.
Secondly, just like how every country is getting through this by the help and support of their doctors and nurses, so is Africa. Believe it or not Africa has well trained doctors. Doctors have been dealing with infections prior so they are well prepared and able to deal with health scares. Certain measures that were put in place to tackle previous infections were also put in place for COVID, such as isolating those infected and tracing those they were in contact with. Communities were also educated on the severity of the issue and ways they can prevent it early.
The high amount of young people also contributed to the low cases. The median age in Africa is 19.4 years, compared with 40 in Europe and 38 in the US. Dr Matshidiso Moeti, the WHO Africa head said “We have [in Africa] about 3% of the population aged over 65 years”.
Just because Africa isn’t seen as a holiday destination to some people doesn’t mean it isn’t a beautifully developed place. Just because some parts are less developed than others doesn’t mean everywhere is poor. Just like you have less developed areas in Africa, you have the same in America, in Asia etc and just because your geography teacher says it’s a ‘Less Economically Developed Country’ doesn’t mean it is a continent that houses poverty.
Africa is more than flies on people’s faces.
