In this piece, CIHA Luce Graduate Fellows, Elham Kazemi and Albert Bangirana, discuss some of the news related to the measures taken by African countries to prevent the spread of coronavirus and the reactions to these measures. It seeks to prompt a critical debate surrounding the mostly skewed racial ideologies that continue to postulate Africa as a disease-ridden continent oblivious of the origins of some of these epidemics.
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By Elham Kazemi, CIHA Editorial Assistant and PhD Candidate, University of California, Irvine and Albert Bangirana, CIHA Editorial Assistant and PhD Student, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
On 11 March 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the rapidly spreading 2019 novel coronavirus or COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic, acknowledging its possible spread to all countries on the globe. The continent of Africa has not been immune to this pandemic. According to the latest figures from the World Health Organization, there are now more than 140 cases registered in at least 15 countries in Africa, with the most reported cases in Egypt. Nonetheless, the continent is the least impacted region in the world so far.
While many are raising concerns about the virus spreading to countries with weaker health systems in Africa, there are also speculations about the reasons for the fairly slow arrival and spread of the virus in Africa. Climatic factors, less connection to the rest of the world, poor testing and reporting are among the suspected reasons, but one of the main reasons seems to be that the Ebola outbreak in 2014 has helped African countries prepare to take timely measures to prevent the virus from reaching their borders and keep the situation under control in cases where it has reached their countries. However, the way some media reports are framing this debate shows “the West’s dangerous obsession with African stereotypes,” according to the Zimbabwean-South African journalist Rufaro Samanga. In fact, while several Western countries are stumbling to tackle the issue, African countries have adopted various measures to prevent the spread of the virus. These measures include but are not limited to placing mobile handwashing stations in public places, mandatory temperature screenings and use of hand sanitizers before entering public spaces such as banks, offices and restaurants as well as developing their testing capabilities with Senegal becoming a pioneer in developing “rapid test kits” that can produce results within 10 minutes in cooperation with a British biotech firm.
African governments have also adopted travel restriction measures which have recently been expanded to more countries. Despite China having close trade links with the continent, many African countries stopped flights to China early on. As the majority of the cases detected so far originated in Europe – the first case in Kenya is a Kenyan national returning home from the US via London -, African countries have also recently decided to expand travel restrictions to travelers from “highly hit” countries, including Europe and the US. The travel restrictions vary among countries and frequently change, but it has not prevented social media users from joking about how the tables have now turned and drawing comparisons with how Africans have been treated in past by these same countries, whether in the colonial era or more recently in the post-colonial period.
Look, I fully support banning travel from Europe to prevent the spread of infectious disease.
— Rebecca Nagle (@rebeccanagle) March 12, 2020
I just think it’s 528 years too late.
Next up: African artists record a charity single for Europe
— Karl Sharro (@KarlreMarks) March 13, 2020
Several countries have also put restrictions on their citizens travelling to high risk countries. For example, the Gambia has suspended all travels by public officials. But there are a number of countries that have not yet adopted travel restrictions. The government of South Africa, for instance, has come under criticism for not adopting stricter measures in the face of the coronavirus which has led to 17 cases registered in the country as of 13 March 2020. Nonetheless, almost all African governments have put in place amplified screening procedures at airports requiring certain travelers to self-isolate, with certain countries deporting visitors who refuse to go into self-quarantine. Just recently, Uganda deported 22 visitors who had flown into the country from coronavirus hit countries, and Tunisia expelled 30 Italian tourists who had refused to self-isolate upon entry to the country. It is not clear if all these measures will be sufficient in keeping the infection rates in Africa low in the long run, but what is significant is that the historic narrative seems to have been subverted. This calls for a critical reflection on the geopolitical narrative of disease and backwardness vis-à-vis Africa as a justification for travel bans and visa restrictions to travel to the “developed” world. Although no one takes pleasure in the suffering of the other, it is interesting to find this epistemologically relevant knowing that the stereotypical racist mentality of disease association with Africanness stands challenged by the prevailing grounds. Efforts of a common humanity both scientific and otherwise are capable of defeating the pandemic without which the effects will be lamentable.