Moving from Rhetoric to Action: How Africa Can Use Scientific Evidence to Halt the COVID-19 Pandemic

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Author(s)
Oluseun Olu, O. , Luba Lomole Waya, J. , Maleghemi, S. , Rumunu, J. , Ameh, D. & Wamala, J. F. 
Publication language
English
Pages
6pp
Date published
30 Oct 2020
Publisher
Infectious Diseases of Poverty 9, 150 (2020)
Type
Articles
Keywords
Data, Disaster preparedness, resilience and risk reduction, Early warning, COVID-19, Epidemics & pandemics, humanitarian action, Humanitarian Principles, Research, policy and analysis
Organisations
BMC
Link
https://idpjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40249-020-00740-0#citeas

The ongoing pandemic of the coronavirus disease 2019 has spread rapidly to all countries of the world. Africa is particularly predisposed to an escalation of the pandemic and its negative impact given its weak economy and health systems. In addition, inadequate access to the social determinants of health such as water and sanitation and socio-cultural attributes may constrain the implementation of critical preventive measures such as hand washing and social distancing on the continent.

Given these facts, the continent needs to focus on targeted and high impact prevention and control strategies and interventions which could break the chain of transmission quickly. We conclude that the available body of scientific evidence on the coronavirus disease 2019 holds the key to the development of such strategies and interventions.

Going forward, we recommend that the African research community should scale up research to provide scientific evidence for a better characterization of the epidemiology, transmission dynamics, prevention and control of the virus on the continent.

Authors: 
Oluseun Olu, O. , Luba Lomole Waya, J. , Maleghemi, S. , Rumunu, J. , Ameh, D. & Wamala, J. F.