Africa Faces A Covid-19 Catastrophe Unless Immediate Action Is Taken

Friends of the Global Fight's Peter Sands addresses the dire consequences of the spread of the coronavirus in Africa: "Covid-19 could stop progress towards ending the epidemics of HIV, TB and malaria, and reverse hard-won gains in mortality and infection rates.”

Covid-19 is like a drama in which each act eclipses the one before. First, it was Wuhan. Then it moved to Europe. Now it’s accelerating in the United States. But the act that could overshadow all is when Covid-19 takes off in Africa.

Unless extremely fast action is taken, the prospect of an imminent catastrophe in Africa will become real. Current confirmed cases and deaths are still relatively low in Africa, and the continent may be four to six weeks behind Europe’s outbreak. But the trajectory and impact of Covid-19 could be far worse – much harder to contain and causing far more death and damage to communities.

Africa faces daunting challenges. The latest readiness assessments by WHO indicates extremely limited intensive care capacity for treatment of severe Covid-19 cases. Liberia, for example, has four intensive care beds for the entire country. Even those countries with intensive care units lack sufficient ventilators. Many countries have none. 

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