Fighting COVID-19: Four homemade innovations putting Africa ahead of the rest

In January, Face2FaceAfrica tried to understand Africa’s capacity and readiness toward the inevitable spread of the coronavirus in the article, “How prepared is Africa for the coronavirus?”

That article followed what was a suspected case in the Ivory Coast that turned out negative. An Ivorian student schooling in Beijing, China had arrived in Abidjan with symptoms.

Since the end of January, Africa has recorded over 31,000 cases of the killer disease. The continent is far behind other parts of the world, but with the most fragile healthcare and security systems, observers of the scene on the continent are worried.

But if Africa’s weak welfare system was a harbinger of disaster, what was feared from the beginning is not happening.

At least, wide-scale testing and public health management in some of the most capable countries such as Ghana and South Africa, show a cause for concern but not shadows of some dire events to come.

One may accept the argument that no country in sub-Saharan Africa can endure the tumult that has wrecked France and Spain. But it would also seem Africans are doing as much as possible not to get there.

We will look at a number of innovative private and governmental efforts from various parts of the continent that are keeping people safe.

It is thanks to these homemade measures that Africa’s predicted fall off the clip has been slowed down, or hopefully slowly being averted.