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The Inquiry: Can Africa cope with coronavirus?

Can Africa cope with coronavirus?

09/04/2020 GMT

BBC World Service - The Inquiry, Can Africa cope with coronavirus?

With poorer economies and less developed healthcare, how will Africa deal with Covid-19?

A number of African countries have imposed lockdowns to try to stop coronavirus in its tracks. Will the continent be able to contain the virus and what impact will it have?

How will Africa deal with Covid-19? It began in China then reached the Middle East, Europe and the United States, now Africa is bracing itself for a surge in coronavirus cases. But how will the continent, with its weaker health care systems and often poor populations cope? The picture is not the same everywhere. Some countries and some sections of society may fare better than others, but the worry is that many African countries simply don’t have the tools or resources to stand up to this pandemic. Or might there be some lessons learnt from the Ebola outbreak which could help? This is a continent of young people, so demographics could work in their favour, but many of them are already compromised by HIV, malaria and other disease outbreaks.

Tanya Beckett speaks to the director of a hospital in rural Uganda, to the head of the Nigeria’s Centre for Disease Control, to the CEO of the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries and to the former President of Liberia, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, about their worries and preparations for Covid-19.  

Presenter: Tanya Beckett
Producer: John Murphy

(An African man wearing an alternative mask in Kampala, Uganda April 2020. Credit: Sumy Sadurni/Getty images)

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