Africa fears that Russian attack on Ukraine undermine the attention that the fight against the covid-19 pandemic requires on the continent and in the rest of the world. “It is very worrying,” said the director of the Africa Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), John Nkengasong this Thursday, at a telematic press conference, when asked about the impact of the war unleashed by Russia.
At this moment, Africa registers until now, something more than 11.5 million cases of coronavirus, of which 248,000 have led to deaths. The continent has a population of close to 1.3 billion inhabitants, which means that, unlike other regions of the world, only a small percentage has been infected. However, the World Health Organization (WHO) maintains that 86% of cases have not been detected due to the lack of diagnostic tests and the difficulties of accessing health centers, especially in rural areas. To this we must add that one of every two children in the continent is not registered, according to estimates that the prestigious Mo Ibrahim Foundation published in its latest report, in December 2021. The institution also calculates that only 10% of deaths have been reported.
The lack of real data on the effect of the pandemic in Africa means that adequate policies cannot be designed to end it. To this is now added the blow of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which will impact the continent, according to Nkengasong, because conflicts give diseases an opportunity to spread. “They distract or take away attention from health issues. The biggest health challenge that we have now in the world is how we work together, solidarity and cooperation to get rid of the covid-19 pandemic, especially in 2022 ″, he has manifested her.
In the virologist’s opinion, the conflict in Ukraine “will draw political attention to this crisis” and its consequences “may not be exclusively war”, but also health. “The pandemic is not over”, warned the director, who has declared himself “optimistic” for the “good progress” achieved, but also “cautious”.
Africa must combat the spread of the new coronavirus by boosting vaccination to reach the goal of immunizing 70% of its population by mid-2022
The virologist has also pointed out that Africa must combat the spread of the new coronavirus by promoting vaccination to reach the goal of immunizing 70% of its population by mid-2022, although to date, only 12.3% of Africans have received at least one dose and 151 million have the complete schedule. This figure contrasts with those of the richest countries and regions due to to the hoarding that these have made: The United States has immunized three quarters of its inhabitants, and the European Union, 71.4%. Of these, 50.3% have received the booster injection.
The continent has received, so far, 676 million vaccines, of which 430 million have arrived to 50 beneficiary countries through Covax, the international platform created to guarantee equitable access to immunization. This started, precisely, a year ago, with a shipment of 600,000 units to Ghana, the first African country to acquire remittances. Covax’s goal was to distribute 2,000 million to 187 partners, of which 92 are medium or low income, but 365 days later has only managed to place half of the committed amount.
Nkengasong has also emphasized that African countries must enhance access to medical treatment and oxygen by 2022, which many covid-19 patients require, because, in his view, “new variants” will emerge.
Other collateral damage from the Russian attack
As far as Africa is concerned, the Russian attack on Ukraine may not only impact efforts to control the covid-19 pandemic. Another difficulty is in the supply of strategic raw materials such as wheat, sunflower, titanium, aluminum or nickel. Russia and Ukraine are key countries in its world supply and, after the invasion, prices have increased disproportionately, affecting the whole world. In the African case, the supply of wheat in countries such as Egypt, Algeria depends increasingly on Russia and Ukraine, “so there may be a problem if the ships that transport the grain are stopped in the Black Sea,” he warned. on Thursday Philippe Chotteau, economic manager of the Livestock Institute, in Paris. “I hope there are stocks.”
In the meantime, and as is happening in the rest of the world, today newspapers from all over the continent have hit the newsstands with news about Ukraine on their front page, as collected Radio France International. “Russia is taking measures”, headlines the newspaper Malikilé Mali “In less than 24 hours, Vladimir Putin has achieved, without firing a shot, important military victories,” says this Malian newspaper, which wonders about the fate of the more than one hundred thousand people who have already been displaced.
In Burkina Faso, the newspaper Wakat Sera warns how far and how close the conflict is from Africa and the head The country He also warns that it would be a mistake not to worry about the conflict despite the fact that it takes place thousands of kilometers away. In Senegal, the daily Investigation presents its cover with the headline On the verge of chaos!”to later refer in its interior pages to the economic chaos due to the threat of distribution problems of basic products such as oil, gas and the aforementioned wheat.
According to the magazine Young Africa, another possible impact of the armed conflict is the repatriation of African citizens residing in Ukraine. This header states that 1,500 Tunisian citizens feel “abandoned” in the European country and repatriation is not easy because the closest embassy of their country is in Moscow. The Government, they say, is negotiating with Romania to be able to transport these citizens by bus. For Moroccans in Ukraine it is worse, according to Young Africa, because there are 10,000 who are there right now, representing the second largest student community in the besieged country.
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