Opinion: African Women Are Leading the Fight Against COVID-19

An opinion piece discussing the role of women in combatting the COVID-19 Pandemic. Women and girls are being particularly affected by the pandemic, in areas such as health care, education, and personal safety. Across the continent, many clinics and health care centers offering women’s reproductive health care have closed or are now focusing their efforts on dealing with COVID-19.

However,  women-led countries have suffered six times fewer confirmed COVID-19 deaths than countries led by men, according to a University of Dublin study. Women leaders are better placed to draw on informal networks to mobilize rapid responses and community support. They are used to finding alternative resources and building ingenious partnerships to solve problems. And with greater numbers of women at the forefront of policy decisions, these skills are coming to the fore.