The PANAFRICAN Review
remain dependent on the R & D and patents of the very countries that have played them as pawns for vaccines . In other words , just like the manufacturing capacity , the thinking around the health security of Africans cannot be outsourced . Consequently , the hardware of manufacturing must be accompanied by the software of research and innovation , if true lessons will have been learned from these two pandemics .
Africans surely can ’ t wait for another pandemic to learn these lessons . The truism is now clear to all that when the stakes are high , everyone is in it for themselves . We don ’ t need to lose another 20 million Africans to do what needs to be done .
How do we build resilient societies ?
Outsourcing thinking around a scientific solution for epidemics correlates with underspending in the area of health . While all African countries lacked the capacity to be part of the scientific solution to Covid-19 , some have managed this pandemic better than others – in other words , there has been variation , as follows .
First , countries with greater health equity were able to accommodate patients who contracted the virus and to offer them urgent remedial care . Countries without this capacity left their people to fend themselves , often retreating to herbal concoctions without the proven capacity to treat the virus . The lesson should be that health equity is a prerequisite to a healthy society since those who can afford healthcare will remain vulnerable as long as there are people around them who cannot afford it .
Secondly , countries with greater economic inclusion could afford prolonged economic restrictions as the welfare packages mitigated the resultant shocks to people ’ s livelihoods . An inclusive economy with adequate social protections overcomes shocks in unprecedented times . In Africa , Covid-19 proved that almost everyone is economically vulnerable , albeit to varying degrees . Therefore , we shouldn ’ t wait for catastrophes to remember that we are in this together - we should build adequate , inclusive economies , already .
Thirdly , the political leadership and the capacity of the state to be responsive to the people proved to be key . In light of what was happening elsewhere in China , Europe and America , effective and people-centred leadership immediately understood that saving lives took precedence over any other consideration ; the economy had to be sacrificed .
However , for economic restrictions to be effectively implemented , trust is essential . The capacity of the state to deliver essential services during good times allows it to build social capital and to remain in control during bad times . Accordingly , where there is greater trust and confidence in the leadership , the people acquiesced to measures , however stringent , put in place to contain the spread of the virus . Trust determined who obeyed and disobeyed and allowed for the benefit of the doubt towards authorities at different levels of state administration . In other words , the reach of the state was tested , its authority affirmed or rejected .
Moreover , when vaccines were made available , this social capital moderated issues of vaccine acceptance and hesitancy . In countries where the trust in leadership is low , authorities have struggled to convince their people that they are acting in good faith , that the vaccines are safe , and that the risks of Covid-19 are worse than those associated with the vaccination .
Furthermore , trust in leadership highly correlates with social cohesion . Where there is greater trust in the leadership , there ’ s often high levels of social cohesion . Accordingly , in societies with greater social cohesion , it was easier for the authorities to leverage social solidarity in support of the needful on the basis of “ We are in it together .” In such circumstances , the mobilisation of communities with the aim of delivering essential goods / services for the most vulnerable members of society took a communal approach , making it difficult for corruption to manifest and divert the support .
Therefore , although exogenous vulnerabilities were shared by all African countries due to the outsourcing of scientific solutions ( as evidenced by the absence of African agency in it ), these were compounded , to varying degrees , by internal vulnerabilities in African societies mainly revolving around the ability of the political leadership to take decisive decisions , especially where there ’ s no social cohesion and trust .
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Dr Lonzen Rugira is a Rwandan independent researcher and former academic .
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