Je, COVID-19 imedhibitiwa Afrika?

Je, COVID-19 imedhibitiwa Afrika?

KIDUNDULIMA said:
Zile zilikuwa ni projections tu kutokana na model walizo run, na si lazima projections ziendani na hali halisi.ndo maana tunaona maambukizi yanakwenda yanakwenda kwa kasi South Africa na Egypt kwa mwezi May badala ya April waliyoidhania
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The problem with predicting coronavirus apocalypse in Africa

Claims that Africa will be hit the worst by the pandemic ignore African epidemiological know-how and action.

In an April 10 interview with CNN, American philanthropist Melinda Gates expressed her belief that the coronavirus pandemic will have the worst impact in the developing world. She said she foresees bodies lying around in the street of African countries.

A day later, it was announced that the United States, where Gates is from, had surpassed Italy in terms of the number of dead from COVID-19.

It is quite surprising to see that although there have been shocking reports of hospitals overwhelmed with patients and dead bodies left to decompose in homes and in the streets of the US and in other Western countries, the billionaire philanthropist and others like her still choose to talk about dead bodies in Africa.

Clearly, despite the massive crisis the West is experiencing, some Western thought leaders continue to insist that a whole continent of 54 countries will collectively and inevitably experience apocalypse as a result of a virus outbreak.

Indeed, the white gaze knows no rest, even amid a pandemic that has struck the West.

There exists a considerable difference between an informed fear and an uninformed assumption. Much of the conversation surrounding the potential impact of COVID-19 on Africa so far seems to have stemmed from the latter.

Gates is not the only one to be predicting total doom in Africa. A report released by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) in April stated: "Anywhere between 300,000 and 3.3 million African people could lose their lives as a direct result of COVID-19."

While there have been multiple projections in regards to the number of COVID-19 deaths that the African continent will see, the recent estimate from the UNECA might be the most confusing.

This is especially because the prediction of millions of COVID-19 deaths in Africa is difficult to reconcile with the present growth rate and the reality on the ground. As of publication time, there were a total of 50,996 COVID-19 cases on the continent and 1,998 deaths reported.

To put this into perspective, based on the lowest projection from UNECA and at the present growth rate, African nations would need to see at least 7.6 million confirmed infections to be able to reach 300,000 deaths; 84 million people will have to be infected continent-wide for the UNECA projected 3.3 million deaths to happen.

Many like Gates are assuming that the only reason African countries are reporting low rates of infection is due to its limited testing capacity. While this is not untrue for some countries, Gates's statement easily excludes from the conversation countries like Ghana, Senegal, South Africa, Mauritius, and others which have ramped up their testing capability.

If the low numbers are only a result of the lack of testing, African countries would be seeing increased rates of hospitalisations and even deaths, which has not been the case so far.

Predictions of mass deaths in Africa are problematic for reasons beyond inaccuracy. They assume that nothing that African countries do can mitigate the spread of the disease and prevent high death tolls. They presuppose that Africans will be just passive victims of yet another viral outbreak.

But many African countries have long experience in dealing with infectious diseases and by now have developed know-how that many Western countries might not have. And many African leaders are also not unaware of their fragile healthcare systems - unlike some of their Western counterparts.

This might, in fact, be the basis on which a lot of the continent's proactive response is founded. Just as someone who is diabetic knows to avoid sugar, African governments understand that their most effective strategy in the battle against COVID-19 is prevention and applying lessons learned from previous and/or ongoing outbreaks.

Uganda has already redirected its screening efforts and systems from combatting Ebola into its current interventions against COVID-19. Even before the country registered its first case, President Yoweri Museveni put in place travel restrictions and social distancing measures that advanced into full lockdown.

Since the first case was announced on March 22, Uganda has seen a total of 100 cases, 55 recoveries, and no deaths.

Rwanda was quick to react, too. Shortly after the outbreak was confirmed in January, the government organised a committee to evaluate and bolster preparedness and response to the pandemic and trained about 500 health workers, including laboratory technicians to cope with a potential national epidemic.

Senegal is another example where local experts are leading the way in developing critical interventions during the pandemic. The West African country has used its experience in fighting HIV-AIDS and Ebola to create a $1 COVID-19 testing kit, a cost-effective and necessary resource it plans to share with other countries on the continent.

In Nigeria, drive-through COVID-19 testing has been deployed. People who suspect they may have the disease register online, are screened to ascertain whether they qualify for a test, drive through a testing centre, if they meet the parameters, and then receive their results electronically too.

Mauritius has enforced a lockdown and rolled out mass testing, planning to have 100,000 people (roughly 10 percent of its population) tested in the span of two weeks. The island nation has established strong social welfare buffers and mobilised its healthcare facilities, which boast 3.4 hospital beds per 1,000 people - more than some Western nations have, including the UK, the US and Canada.

And Somalia, defying the usual media stereotypes about the country, announced in later March that it was sending 20 doctors who had volunteered to help the fight against the virus in Italy.

Indeed, there surely will be some African countries where the COVID-19 outbreak will have a devastating impact. But painting with a wide brush a whole continent of 54 countries and dismissing efforts of African governments to deal with the situation is simply wrong.

Why do we not see the same broad strokes applied to continents like Europe and North America? Western countries are able to recognise nuance and complexities within themselves, acknowledging that no two countries are exactly alike. If outcomes of this epidemic in Europe and North America vary greatly from country to country, why is it not possible to assume that the same would be the case in Africa?

The view that all Africans think the same way and that all African countries will suffer the same fate is deeply rooted in colonial ideology, which dismisses an entire continent as inherently backward and dysfunctional.

The legacy of colonialism has perpetuated the lie that Black bodies are to be pitied and to exclusively be the recipients of aid. Is it possible for African people to be regarded as experts rather than passive victims?

The problem with the UNECA and Gates's projections of the impact COVID-19 will have on the African continent is that they strip African countries of their agency and redirect focus on providing charity rather than supporting already existing and well-functioning epidemiological responses.

There is a time and place for every culture and country to be the expert, to be the frontrunner and African countries deserve to be perceived as autonomous, complex, and nuanced as every part of the world.

Aljazeera!
 
Huu ugonjwa una uhusiano mkubwa na kinga ya mwili...ambayo kwa kiasi kikubwa inatokana na chakula asilia...wao chakula vyao vingi vya kutengeneza....vingi havina kinga asilia...nadhani ndio maana umewaathiri sana.
 
Historia ni Mwalimu mzuri sana Tusifurahie sana Mambo baado. Spanish Flu ilikuwa na wave mbili .wave ya kwanza ilipiga europe peke yake mara ikaja tena ikaangamiza Asia na then Africa.Tanganyika watu wengi walikufa
 
owomkyalo said:
Africa wanahide information vifo na maambukizi nizaidi ya marekani.
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mkuu ili kujua magnitude ya kitu chochote nakushauri anzia tu ndani mwako kisha na mtaa unaokaa wewe na je tayari umeona mtaani kwako mshazika maelfu wangapi kwa Corona? then unaweza kupiga ramli zako kuhusu mitaa mingine na nchi nzima!! au unafanya kazi ya kuzunguka nchi nzima kukusanya data za wafu wa Corona mochwari zote?

mkuu kauli yako haina evidence , haina data haina research then ni mbaya na haina ukweli!! mzungu na mtu mweusi are two different races with completely different genetic compositions , adaptation , risks, diseases and immune systems, hivi wajua mwanamke wa kizungu hanyonyeshi mtoto ili kubaki kijana kwa miaka mingi wakati wewe umenyonya 6 years!!! wanaokufa US wote ni weak sababu ya uzungu a weak race, kutonyonya maziwa bora ya mama na old age!

mkuu nakusihi jitahidi kuamka sasa na kujifunza tabia za wazungu za kupambana daima kuharibu image ya Africa na kutulazimisha kuwa tuna matatizo ili wajidai wanakuja kutatua kumbe wanakuja kuiba kwa kulaghai viongozi wengi wajinga waliokubuhu waliojaa Africa!.nina ushahidi binafsi with personal experience na wazungu kwa aya hii!!

Kauli yako kama hizo ni kama zile za yule illiterate DJ wa saccos ya ufipa inayojifia kauli zenye kuwatisha watu na serikali bila sababu za msingi, wakati we ukitisha watu ukweli unabaki kuwa tunahitaji kufungua mashule yote haraka watoto wasipoteze madini zaidi maana sasa hata wengine hawajui wako form ngapi wengine mimba zinajaa na elimu ambayo ni injini ya maendeleo ya nchi inakufa badala yake Kara Sevda na Ruby Ring zinakuja juu hata washiriki wake wa kirusi hutusalimu kwa Kiswahili!!! tushapotea sana kama taifa!

nakusihi tuache kuiga wazungu tufungue mashule haraka ili uchumi wa mamilioni ya wapiga kura ufunguke na mzunguko wa pesa uliokata kwa mamilioni ya watu uamke na waalimu watoke jasho tena maana sasa wanakula mishahara bure na wako likizo, na mamilioni ya kina mama wauza maandazi na bagia mashuleni nchi nzima wanakufa njaa na watoto na waume zao kwa shule kufungwa na hawa ndio wapiga kura wetu wakubwa! boda boda na bajajs na mabosi wao nchi nzima nao wanakufa njaa, mamilioni ya waalimu wa private schools na wamiliki wao nchi nzima wanakufa njaa na presha, kundi ni kubwa!

Namuunga mkono Mkulu kuwa maisha lazima yaendelee na sasa tuishi na Corona kama magonjwa mengine na dawa ya Corona tayari ipo nchini from Madagasca na ingine ni miti kibao iko Moshi huko Mama RC ukienda anakuonesha sorry guys binafsi naona hakuna mantiki wala fikra za kina kufunga mashule , tulikurupuka mno yaani tumefunga mashule ila wale watoto na wazazi na walimu sote tuko mitaani kwenye Corona tunazurura!!

na kwanza watoto wengi wana strong immune na hawaugui mafua ya Corona mimi ni shabiki wa Mkulu na CCM nashauri shule zifunguliwe haraka kwa maslahi mapana ya nchi na ni jambo la msingi kwa kulinda uchumi na maisha ya raia sababu kama Corona ingekuwa ni ugonjwa wetu ungetufyeka sote in one month ila mbona Corona inafyeka wazungu nasi tupo tu? formula ya maambukizi ni universal ila formula ya mauti Allah anatulinda sisi ni maskini hatuna makosa kama mabeberu wanaotuuzia silaha tuuane na sasa ni wakati wao kujua uchungu wa watu wao kufa, mkuki kwa nguruwe

nashauri sana ligi zote za michezo nchi nzima zirudi haraka manake viwanja ni vikubwa washangiliaji wakae mbalimbali na wavae barakoa na wasiingie viwanjani bila kunawa mikono na kupaka sanitizers kwanza mamilioni ya mama lishe wa viwanjani kama taifa pale wanakufa njaa mpira hakuna ni wapiga kura wakubwa hawa serikali yao haiwajali? mamilioni ya machinga wa viwanjani wanakufa njaa nchi nzima ligi si hamna wakale wapi mahabusu sentro?vyama vya mpira vinakosa pesa za viingilio, serikali inakosa kodi, chama cha kijani kinakosa pesa za mgao wa uwanja , timu hazina pesa kulipa mishahara wachezaji kwa kukosa pesa za viingilio ? kila mtu atakufa one day nashauri maisha yarudishwe yalivyokuwa tuchukue hatua kujilinda tu anaeugua tunamnywesha mitishamba ya Madagasca au Moshi na akifa siku zake zimefika tuchukue ni sawa tu angekufa hata na Malaria.

Kwanza data hazidanganyi kati ya US na Bongo ni kina nani wana ukaribu na China? kina nani kila kukicha wanaenda China mbona wao US vifo wanakaribia laki sisi 16 tu?

mkuu chapa kazi acha uoga wewe binafsi na nakusihi acha kutisha watu mimi ninakokaa ni changanyikeni na business as usual na hakuna mtu amekufa na Corona!!

Corona ipo ipo sio masihara tuchukue tahadhari!
 
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