Two Truths About Covid 19 For Sub-Sahara Africa

Usually, whenever Africa south of the Sahara is mentioned, the tendency is to exclude South Africa for obvious reasons. Long colonized and governed by foreign settlers before ceding to international pressure and accepting majority indigenous rule, this country with a largely temperate climate has a positive development index that places it above the other nations to its north. Though developed and with an economy controlled by mostly Caucasians and Asians, this country has witnessed the effects of the pandemic much differently from the others. In fact, the nation has suffered waves in tandem with Europe!

Was the corona virus necessary for sub-Saharan Africa? Well, as incongruous as this question might seem, the answer is yes. Before the advent of the covid-19, this part of Africa had witnessed different epidemics/pandemics at various periods recently, such as HIV-AIDS, Ebola, poliomyelitis, malaria etc. Yet, little or no attention was placed upon improving the healthcare needs of the population. There were large deficiencies in the system and little or nothing was done to address them. Foreign aid and other assistance were deliberately syphoned into private coffers or diverted into white elephant projects that had little relevance towards improving the health of the people.

It was the norm for top officials of both the government and private sectors to evacuate themselves and their families abroad for the slightest ailment while the masses had to make do with inadequate infrastructure, inhospitable and sometimes poorly trained health personnel, wanton corruption and gross negligence that resulted at times in scandalous unwarranted deaths of patients. Despite efforts by the WHO and other financial institutions to assist governments of the region address these inadequacies, the problems exacerbated over time. Whether it was in Congo DRC, Liberia, Guinea, Sierra Leone or Niger to name just a few, the stories were largely the same.

Then COVID19 arrived. A non-respecter of persons, it was a God-sent illness so to speak, that by its nature had a very devasting effect upon the 60 years and above vulnerable age group. Coincidentally, the majority of the ruling class fell into this group and with the pandemic restricting evacuations into foreign lands, governments were forced to react.

Aid and assistance from donor institutions could now be judiciously used to improve the technical benches of health facilities. Inadequacies of the system were looked into; basic hygiene rules were taught to the population and health campaigns to sensitize the populace in order to avoid a pogrom, left drawers in government offices for actual field one on one interaction.

Slogans were transformed into survival guides on the mass media and when personalities became victims of the disease, governments of the region took this upon themselves as a battle cry. Certainly, some of the foreign aid to shore up the dilapidated health infrastructure was still diverted but this was largely minimal compared to previous years.

Then came the good news from Madagascar that extracts from the artemisia plant had a healing effect upon this virus. The polemic that followed till date including the conspiracy theories surrounding it, leaves much to be desired. But it’s obvious that traditional African medicine coupled with a rather hot climate, combined in mitigating the seriousness of this disease.

Remember COVID19 was predicted to decimate the population of this region due to the fragility of the health systems as well as the entrenched poverty rampant in the region. A poorly fed people with delicate health standards were doomed, so went the forecast.

On the other hand, note that in the just ended decade, this part of Africa had witnessed a rise of doomsday miracle pastors whose stock in trade was to dupe their adherents with false promises of a utopian paradise. These preachers merely lined their pockets with the miserly earnings of their members but when Covid19 happened and the fake miracles were laid bare for all to see, people started opening their eyes into basic reality. This became even more urgent when some of these false prophets whose appellations of men of God signified opulence, started dying too of the dreaded pandemic. If they could not heal themselves, how could they bring succour to their adherents? Obviously, there are two takes from this episode of the pandemic.

One is that traditional African medicine has been tried and tested to be efficacious whether western countries accept this or not. A benefit of this too is that charlatans too have been weeded out and only authentic natural medicine has gained popularity. This was largely aided initially by the vigorous campaigns and adherence of the populace to the barrier measures put in place. Obviously, even the continent’s kindergarten children these days have learnt how to apply basic hygiene into their lives and homes.

Secondly, miracle pastors and their “churches” have been laid bare by their inability to deliver the undeliverable, i.e. miracle cures from heaven! It is now time for the populace to divert their attention to serious development efforts that will improve their lives rather than succumb to swindlers who have sprouted all over the continent in one form or the other under the guise of spiritual upliftment when the continent is in dire need of physical and mental upliftment as well as economic empowerment.

Foma N. Stephen