While social distancing and stay home seem to be among the several measures to stop the spread of the coronavirus around the world, it is important to ask ourselves if these measures will work across the board given the stark differences between the western world and Africa.
Certain features like culture, migration, or movement patterns, wealth, and inequality will likely affect to some extent the success achieved in Africa. Like the rest of the world, African countries have chosen to implement the WHO recommendations of using hand sanitizers, hand washing and proper hygiene, social and physical distancing, and staying home.
The question most Africans asked when told they had to do social distancing was, how do I reduce the number of times I come in contact with others when I have parents, siblings, cousins, uncles, aunts, and grandparents living together in a compound.
Nigeria and her West African sister Ghana along with many others adopted this model. However, certain issues and problems as envisaged by many have started playing out in some African nations.
South Africa recorded the looting of supermarkets by hungry protesters. Nigeria has observed an open disregard for safety measures because of hunger.
The major question now is, how feasible is it to implement and sustain these safe hygienic measures of handwashing, use of sanitizers, wearing a face mask, and social distancing in Africa?
while we cannot deny the potential help this model has on the reduction and spread of the dreaded coronavirus, the probability that this model will work in Africa is small considering the peculiar state of Africa.
Using the most populous nation in Africa, Nigeria as a case study. With an estimated population of over 206 million persons spread across 36 states, low GDP, and a high inequality index in terms of education and wealth among its citizens, most communities do not have access to clean potable water and so need to trek long distances to get them.
How do you convince members of such communities to set this precious commodity aside to wash their hands every time they go out or come in, touch a surface which they are used to touching previously without any issues, exchange money or make any physical contact with others who health officials claim may be asymptomatic.
Also, how do we effectively implement a stay home policy when even the citizens of western societies with higher GDP can feel the crunch of this instruction, how much more would this affect Africa?
How can most citizens of the African continent with a high poverty index survive when their survival is dependent on their ability to go out and source for the day's food. I have seen countless African women trek distances of over 4 miles just to sell their farm produce and make between 2000-4000 naira (about 5-10 dollars) which would be used to survive for that week.
One can only imagine what would happen if this freedom is taken away from such a person, especially in the face of the fact that the lives of their family members depend on this.
Government and private sector intervention in the distribution of palliatives is highly commendable but, how many villagers who live in remote areas can access these palliatives and where they do get such, what quantity do they actually receive?
Pictures of the actual quantity of food received abound on social media thus raising the question of how long these food items would last before the recipient and members of their families go hungry again.
This goes without saying that while the stay home order may not impact the upper and middle class amongst us in Africa, those who constitute the lower class will definitely feel the bite of this order.
Another issue of concern is the nonchalant attitude of certain members of society to the pandemic. Many people do not understand how everyday occurrences like sneezing, or coughing could be signs of something potentially dangerous.
So the WHO safety guidelines are either completely ignored or partly followed. This is worse in areas with people who have lesser educational attainment.
The spike and increase in the rate of infection of the virus in northern Nigeria and some states in the south can be attributed to an existing gap in education.
Plus, the cultural practices of most African communities demand that family members come together at least on the home front to socialize.
How do we effectively implement the protocol of avoiding large gatherings when we do not believe in staying alone, or have large families which sometimes may be larger than the approved 20 persons?
The list is endless.
While there is no ban on the movement of essential goods across the country, this raises the question of how well we can control human movement. Frightening news coverage of trucks purportedly carrying food items like livestock, and salt that has been apprehended with people hidden underneath wooden platforms or covered as salt bags show how much a man who is afraid to die is willing to bear to get to a safe haven.
Truth is the places where they are headed may actually not be safe havens because they may still die of hunger or worse still from the virus. As they are all people from areas with higher incidences of the viral outbreak packed together, in the bid to run to areas with a lower incidence.
The most painful being the number of almajiris (Islamic out of school children) packed into buses and sent to the different states that constitute the south with plates to beg but were intercepted by the law enforcement agencies.
Some may argue that this is dangerous as it could potentially lead to upsurge inactive cases.
It is a pointer to the level of fear and panic in the air.
Plus, total lockdown as implemented by some states has caused more people to try to migrate to other places in a bid to find their source of likelihood.
Bearing in mind the socioeconomic state of Africa, it is necessary that African leaders think of better methods of handling the COVID 19 pandemic without sacrificing the safety, sanity, and pride of the common man.
The rate and picture of the spread should tell us to educate the masses in the language they understand, the importance of the WHO protocols while making slight adjustments to suit the area as the need demands.
This is particularly important as following the present protocol totally may not be feasible in Africa.
States will need to do more for their citizens if they want to see any good outcome from the stay at home and social distancing policy because they are opposed to our culture, and survival as Africans.
Some states like Anambra, Cross River, and Ebonyi have chosen to amend certain areas like allowing people to go about their daily business routine while observing strict compliance with the wearing of face masks, washing of hands before entering the markets, and temperature checks.
To critics, this may seem inadequate, but they represent the ability of the leaders in these places to understand the sufferings of the masses. These places have also not seen the kind of numbers recorded in the north.
Anambra state, for instance, has had 66 cases of the disease even though plays host to some of the largest markets in this region. The federal government had ordered the closure of all markets. The governor allowed for the purchase of food items at the expiration of the order to allow for citizens to feed.
Ebonyi state, on the other hand, has recorded 264 cases. All reported incidents happen to be people of the state origin who tried to sneak back into the state from places that can be termed epicenters in Nigeria.
So far, community transmission of the virus despite the freedom to move and do business has been minimal. Cross River state is yet to record any case but has nonetheless tightened its borders to prevent the spread of the virus into its territory.
The governor of Cross Rivers state had instead recruited over two thousand youths in a season when more people are losing their jobs to man the agricultural revolution, and multi-billion naira garment factory to produce free face mask which is made compulsory for citizens to use, and also plans to donate to other states currently battling the pandemic.
One common feature in these areas is the proactive approach of African leaders to adapt and ameliorate the sufferings of the poor. With free face mask being distributed to the poor and where necessary people should be asked to convert their handkerchief into nose and mouth coverings as promoted by these state governments.
Fines for defaulters could also be announced to ensure compliance. The fear of paying so much in exchange for the short discomfort they might experience with wearing a face mask will further drive observance.
Are these leaders being careless?
One can only say that we may end up with more bodies of people dying out of hunger if everyone is forced to stay at home and obey social or physical distancing in Africa.
Will this work in the long run?
Only the future can tell us. However, this virus has highlighted our weaknesses as a continent and is forcing us to think for ourselves, we have to be fed and healthy to withstand the virus
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