Surveying the impact of COVID-19 on Africa’s higher education and research sector

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Academic and research institutions find themselves tasked with learning how to adapt in real-time in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic that is significantly disrupting the global higher education sector. Most of the focus so far has been on western countries, leaving major gaps in our understanding of how Africa’s own centres of knowledge production are faring in this crisis. We know that the state of research and higher education on the continent has long…

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COVID-19 Impacts on African Children – How to Protect-a-generation at Risk

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This policy paper underscores that, although children do not represent a high-risk group for direct COVID-19 fatality, the pandemic posts far-reaching secondary impacts that heighten risks to African children’s rights and wellbeing.   Download

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This global pandemic could transform humanitarianism forever. Here’s how

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There is a moment at the start of every major crisis when you think: “This is going to change everything.” COVID-19 was no exception. “In humanitarian response, there will be a ‘before’ and ‘after’ COVID-19,” Ed Schenkenberg van Mierop, executive director of the think tank HERE-Geneva, wrote in late March. But as the crisis born of this global pandemic has evolved, some of the promises of deep transformation in a humanitarian aid sector that has long…

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Building Back Better: A Sustainable, Resilient Recovery after COVID-19

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For the economic recovery from the COVID-19 crisis to be durable and resilient, a return to ‘business as usual’ and environmentally destructive investment patterns and activities must be avoided. Unchecked, global environmental emergencies such as climate change and biodiversity loss could cause social and economic damages far larger than those caused by COVID-19. To avoid this, economic recovery packages should be designed to “build back better”. This means doing more than getting economies and livelihoods…

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COVID-19 Response Underlines the Need for Portable Social Protection Programs

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The COVID-19 pandemic has underlined the need for a universal and portable social protection system that can uniquely verify people and deliver benefits efficiently and at scale. With few exceptions, most developing countries have a patchwork of social assistance programs that are targeted and delivered to its beneficiaries. In most cases, the programs are not portable, meaning those who live and work in a place other than where they are registered—like many who have migrated…

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The political economy of the fight against COVID19 in Africa

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In spite of the lack of evidence of rapid spread, African governments have been accused of copying and pasting the strategies used in the global north, creating a double burden of economic and political crisis. It is therefore important to review how African countries are responding to the pandemic, and to reflect on the opportunities and threats that the virus represents for policy and practice. The author argues that unless African countries understand the unique…

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Some Lessons from the History of Epidemics in Africa

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This article argues that not surprisingly, Covid-19 has brought out old stereotypes of an allegedly under-medicalized, pre-modern Africa where poverty and a supposed scientific underdevelopment condemn Africans to medical impotence. However, the history of epidemics and biomedicine demonstrates the long experience and extensive expertise of researchers, caregivers, and ordinary people. In addition, the experience of crises, especially health crises, is much stronger in Africa than in Western countries. What history and anthropology demonstrate is the…

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Water in the COVID-19 crisis: Response, recovery, and resilience

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Water is essential for drinking, sanitation, and food production; for billions of people, however, water access and quality are limited. The COVID-19 pandemic has further amplified the impacts of these water inequalities. Claudia Sadoff and Mark Smith of the International Water Management Institute assess the role of water in the current responses to COVID-19 and in future phases of recovery and resilience. Their recommendations range from emergency provision of water to high-risk groups, through developing new innovations…

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The Indirect Health Effects of COVID-19: Lockdown Measures and Service Provision

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As we head into June, reports have continued to emerge that highlight the magnitude of the indirect effects the COVID-19 pandemic is having on  health systems around the world. The pandemic has created additional barriers for patients accessing essential care, whether it be restrictions on movement, transportation restrictions, stigma, impoverishment from loss of livelihoods, or avoidance of care due to concerns over contracting the virus. The authors of this article’s aim is to highlight some of…

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As Global Health Players Pivot To COVID-19 Responses, We Need Coordinated, Real-Time, Formative Evaluations

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An estimated $15.9 trillion has been mobilised to respond to the health and economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Some of this has gone to multilateral and bilateral funders to support low- and middle-income countries’ (LMIC) governments. But how is this money being spent, and how is it impacting country budgets and expenditure more broadly? Of the total $15.9 trillion mobilised for COVID-19, multilateral funders⁠—including the IMF, UN, EU, Gavi, and the Global Fund⁠—have committed…

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