Theme: Trust between Citizens & Institutions

Despite public health constraints, widespread infectious disease and poor nutrition, COVID-19’s toll on Africa has so far been less than initially feared. The economic impact of COVID-19 may be longer lasting than the pandemic itself. But the situation changes daily and significant uncertainties remain. The comparatively low rates of coronavirus infections and deaths in Africa are in stark contrast to the high rates of infection and death elsewhere in the world, for reasons that remain unclear.
Despite public health constraints, widespread infectious disease and poor nutrition, COVID-19’s toll on Africa has so far been less than initially feared. The economic impact of COVID-19 may be longer lasting than the pandemic itself. But the situation changes daily and significant uncertainties remain. The comparatively low rates of coronavirus infections and deaths in Africa are in stark contrast to the high rates of infection and death elsewhere in the world, for reasons that remain unclear.

For most crises, it comes down to money and expertise. But a pandemic is different, at least at the beginning. Even more than stimulus checks or ventilators, resilience to a pandemic requires strong social capital for collective action, where millions of individual women, men, and children are willing and able to make the small or large personal sacrifices necessary to stop the disease before it spreads. If West Africa is going to avoid catastrophe, embracing the lessons learned from the Ebola epidemic and leveraging strong social capital is their best bet.

Africa is at risk of getting the worst of both worlds: failure to check the epidemic and failure to check economic collapse. Why?

In addition to unemployment and labour market vulnerabilities, some social protection mechanisms and economic policy responses implemented in the context of the COVID-19 crisis do not seem to consider young people as a specific vulnerable category.

Despite Africa’s weak health systems and governance deficiencies, the continent has thus far shown more resilience in handling the COVID-19 pandemic than many analysts predicted.

We have learned from the Ebola crisis in West Africa and elsewhere that COVID-19 containment strategies will fail unless they sufficiently involve communities in their design and implementation. The voices, needs and livelihoods of people and communities must remain at the centre of any response strategy.

The pandemic offers an opportunity for political leadership to be exercised with determination. Epidemiological, not ideological solutions, are the key to success. It is science, not politics, that should guide our response to the pandemic.

State institutions must seize the opportunity presented by the COVID-19 crisis to build a broad social compact with community structures and local leaders, as part of a strategy to enhance the trust of ordinary citizens on the current efforts to flatten the curve.