Can Africa cope with coronavirus?
The Inquiry
BBC
4.6 • 1.7K Ratings
🗓️ 9 April 2020
⏱️ 23 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
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)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is the inquiry on the BBC World Service. |
| 0:02.8 | I'm Tanya Beckett. |
| 0:04.1 | Each week, one question for expert witnesses |
| 0:08.0 | and an answer. A 30-year-old Zimbabwean man begs his family for help. He's in hospital in Harare and has been |
| 0:26.3 | diagnosed with coronavirus a few days before. He's having trouble breathing and |
| 0:32.2 | the hospital doesn't have a ventilator. In fact there isn't even a plug socket in his room. |
| 0:38.8 | Shortly after the phone call, he dies. |
| 0:42.1 | Sororo McCamber was Zimbabwe's first coronavirus death. |
| 0:47.0 | He was a well-known journalist and came from a high-profile family, |
| 0:51.0 | but even wealth and privilege were not enough to save him. |
| 0:56.4 | So what hope is there then for Africa's ordinary people if COVID-19 takes hold across the continent. |
| 1:04.0 | This week we're asking, |
| 1:06.0 | how will Africa cope with coronavirus? |
| 1:10.0 | Part one, a precious resource. |
| 1:17.0 | If the virus, the pandemic hits us, the impact is going to be huge. |
| 1:26.0 | Our first expert witness is from a private not-for-profit rural hospital in eastern Uganda. |
| 1:35.0 | My name is Moses Icya and I'm the director of Holy Nonsense Hospital |
| 1:40.0 | based in Camutur Village, Camutour Sub County of Bocaia District. |
| 1:47.0 | Holy Innocence Hospital is about 260 kilometers northeast of the capital, Kampala. |
| 1:55.0 | It serves a local community of 11.5,000 people, |
| 1:59.0 | plus some who come from further afield. |
| 2:02.0 | We have the general words, we have the children's world, |
... |
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