{"id":54587,"date":"2020-03-27T12:42:04","date_gmt":"2020-03-27T01:42:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=54587"},"modified":"2020-03-27T12:42:04","modified_gmt":"2020-03-27T01:42:04","slug":"can-africa-withstand-covid-19","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/can-africa-withstand-covid-19\/","title":{"rendered":"Can Africa withstand Covid-19?"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/figure>\n

Less than five months after the first documented case of the Covid-19 coronavirus, infections exceed<\/a> 500,000 globally, with nearly 24,000 deaths. This pandemic is devastating societies and economies all over the world, but Africa stands to face particularly severe and long-lasting damage.<\/p>\n

To be sure, Africa isn\u2019t suffering as much as many expected\u2014at least not so far. Though the number of affected countries on the continent has risen to 39<\/a>, the virus doesn\u2019t seem to be spreading as rapidly as it has elsewhere.<\/p>\n

Some scientists think<\/a> this could be partly a matter of climate. One study<\/a> found that the Covid-19 virus may be less stable at higher temperatures, with the optimal temperature for transmission probably hovering at around 8.72\u00b0C. Temperatures in most African countries rarely drop below 15\u00b0C. This doesn\u2019t mean that the Covid-19 virus can\u2019t be transmitted in hotter climates, only that it may be easier to contain there.<\/p>\n

But other serious challenges to containment remain\u2014beginning with the fact that Covid-19 has a longer incubation time<\/a> than the common cold (another coronavirus), and asymptomatic individuals are contagious. While symptomatic people are more contagious<\/a>, and this seems to be the primary mechanism for the virus\u2019s spread, asymptomatic people pose a significant danger, because they are less likely to limit their interactions. This makes transmission much harder to track.<\/p>\n

Then there\u2019s the issue of severity. While most Covid-19 cases are characterised by only mild to moderate symptoms, the virus\u2019s severity rises sharply for the elderly<\/a> and those with underlying health conditions<\/a>, including cardiopulmonary disease and diabetes.<\/p>\n

As the world\u2019s youngest continent, with a median age<\/a> of 18 (less than half the median age of Europe), Africa may have less to worry about in terms of severity. It\u2019s no coincidence that, based on numbers of confirmed cases and deaths, the mortality rate<\/a> in Italy\u2014with a median age of 47.3\u2014has reached 9.2%<\/a>, compared with a global average<\/a> of around 3.4%.<\/p>\n

In terms of underlying health conditions, however, Africa is on a much weaker footing. Though non-communicable diseases like diabetes have traditionally been associated with developed countries, there is evidence<\/a> that they are proliferating in Africa. Moreover, Africa is beset by two other conditions\u2014HIV and tuberculosis\u2014which could pose serious risks to those infected with Covid-19.<\/p>\n

Sub-Saharan Africa is home<\/a> to about 70% of people living with HIV globally, and 25% of the world\u2019s new TB cases\u2014the leading cause of death among HIV-infected people\u2014occur in Africa. Because HIV and TB are not widespread in the regions hardest hit by the coronavirus so far, there\u2019s little data about their implications for those infected with Covid-19. But it does seem fair to assume that people with HIV and\/or TB are at a higher risk of developing more severe forms of Covid-19.<\/p>\n

There may be some reason for hope: some countries are evaluating the effectiveness of certain anti-retroviral<\/a> drugs on Covid-19. If they work, it would be a huge relief for Africans. More than 60% of HIV-positive people<\/a> in southern and eastern Africa\u2014the regions most affected by HIV\u2014are already on anti-retroviral treatment.<\/p>\n

But encouraging results are far from guaranteed. And even if they were, nearly 40% of the HIV-positive population in southern and eastern Africa\u201420.6 million people, in total\u2014would still be highly vulnerable.<\/p>\n

A final major risk for Africa during the Covid-19 pandemic lies in the weakness of healthcare systems. If the virus has been able to overwhelm a modern health system in a developed country like Italy, there is no telling what would happen in an African country with a health system that is already weak and under-resourced.<\/p>\n

As the rapid global spread of Covid-19 makes clear, this is not just a problem for Africa. If the virus gains a foothold on the continent, it could spill back to the rest of the world, creating new outbreaks in countries that had brought it under control. The only solution is for external actors to work with African governments to address key weaknesses\u2014before it\u2019s too late.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Less than five months after the first documented case of the Covid-19 coronavirus, infections exceed 500,000 globally, with nearly 24,000 deaths. This pandemic is devastating societies and economies all over the world, but Africa stands …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1099,"featured_media":54591,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[177,2658,2708,2709],"class_list":["post-54587","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-africa","tag-coronavirus","tag-healthcare","tag-ill","dinkus-coronavirus"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nCan Africa withstand Covid-19? | The Strategist<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/can-africa-withstand-covid-19\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Can Africa withstand Covid-19? | The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Less than five months after the first documented case of the Covid-19 coronavirus, infections exceed 500,000 globally, with nearly 24,000 deaths. This pandemic is devastating societies and economies all over the world, but Africa stands ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/can-africa-withstand-covid-19\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ASPI.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-03-27T01:42:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/GettyImages-1199224545.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"665\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Denis Chopera\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ASPI_org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ASPI_org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Denis Chopera\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/\",\"name\":\"The Strategist\",\"description\":\"ASPI's analysis and commentary site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/can-africa-withstand-covid-19\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/GettyImages-1199224545.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/GettyImages-1199224545.jpg\",\"width\":1024,\"height\":665,\"caption\":\"ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA - FEBRUARY 07: People, who entered the building, are being checked with thermal cameras and disinfectant applied to their hands at the African Union headquarters during the 33rd African Union Heads of State Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on Febraury 7, 2020. (Photo by Minasse Wondimu Hailu\/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/can-africa-withstand-covid-19\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/can-africa-withstand-covid-19\/\",\"name\":\"Can Africa withstand Covid-19? | The Strategist\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/can-africa-withstand-covid-19\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2020-03-27T01:42:04+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-03-27T01:42:04+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/86ba9e903b511f708281c1f94fb9ab40\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/can-africa-withstand-covid-19\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/can-africa-withstand-covid-19\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/can-africa-withstand-covid-19\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Can Africa withstand Covid-19?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/86ba9e903b511f708281c1f94fb9ab40\",\"name\":\"Denis Chopera\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e949592c1cf3fa469f94b5f399e2e5b1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e949592c1cf3fa469f94b5f399e2e5b1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Denis Chopera\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/author\/denis-chopera\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Can Africa withstand Covid-19? | The Strategist","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/can-africa-withstand-covid-19\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Can Africa withstand Covid-19? | The Strategist","og_description":"Less than five months after the first documented case of the Covid-19 coronavirus, infections exceed 500,000 globally, with nearly 24,000 deaths. This pandemic is devastating societies and economies all over the world, but Africa stands ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/can-africa-withstand-covid-19\/","og_site_name":"The Strategist","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ASPI.org","article_published_time":"2020-03-27T01:42:04+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":665,"url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/GettyImages-1199224545.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Denis Chopera","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@ASPI_org","twitter_site":"@ASPI_org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Denis Chopera","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/","name":"The Strategist","description":"ASPI's analysis and commentary site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-AU"},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/can-africa-withstand-covid-19\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/GettyImages-1199224545.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/GettyImages-1199224545.jpg","width":1024,"height":665,"caption":"ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA - FEBRUARY 07: People, who entered the building, are being checked with thermal cameras and disinfectant applied to their hands at the African Union headquarters during the 33rd African Union Heads of State Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on Febraury 7, 2020. (Photo by Minasse Wondimu Hailu\/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/can-africa-withstand-covid-19\/","url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/can-africa-withstand-covid-19\/","name":"Can Africa withstand Covid-19? | The Strategist","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/can-africa-withstand-covid-19\/#primaryimage"},"datePublished":"2020-03-27T01:42:04+00:00","dateModified":"2020-03-27T01:42:04+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/86ba9e903b511f708281c1f94fb9ab40"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/can-africa-withstand-covid-19\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-AU","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/can-africa-withstand-covid-19\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/can-africa-withstand-covid-19\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Can Africa withstand Covid-19?"}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/86ba9e903b511f708281c1f94fb9ab40","name":"Denis Chopera","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e949592c1cf3fa469f94b5f399e2e5b1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e949592c1cf3fa469f94b5f399e2e5b1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Denis Chopera"},"url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/author\/denis-chopera\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54587"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1099"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54587"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54587\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54592,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54587\/revisions\/54592"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54591"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54587"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54587"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54587"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}