I promised a blog on this. I will, but let me first tweet a few ideas. I think structural factors (demographics, weather, population densities and settlement pattern, levels of urbanization etc) could’ve helped Africa to limit the spread of #COVID19, at least for now. 1/
Africa’s much younger populations (median age is 20, with countries such as Uganda 15 and Niger 14) means we’re less likely to notice the virus even if it struck at community level (which it hasn’t). It hasn’t because our mobility levels are low and the virus arrived late. 2/
In Africa we don’t have mass transit (subways, trains, airplanes, elevators, cruise ships) that have been found to transmit the virus en masse and swiftly. Our levels of urbanization and thus a smaller proportion of urban population (20% in Uganda) helped us. 3/
African countries moved faster to enforce strict quarantine, border control measures, and lockdowns. And they were effective. Like China, most African governments are ‘strong’. They speak and we heed the instructions. As I tweet this 80% of Africans are under curfew. 4/
Unlike Americans & Europeans, we’re broke, our health systems are precarious, our cities are full of slums and we don’t have reliable data. Govts don’t know who they govern and where we are located. So, wisely they went for suppression of the virus as West bought ventilators. 5/
Therefore, folks in the West thinking that Africa is reporting fewer cases bse we’re not testing enough is not entirely true. Covid is like pregnancy; you can’t hide it beyond a given period. Nearly a month since the 1st case in Africa was reported, we would dying like ants. Bye.
All said and done, let each one of us and all of us together not forget; the most reliable cure for #Covid_19 as of now is to #StayHome #SocialDistancing #StaySafe = prevention. #Tonsemberera
