BY IDRISS MOHAMMED

With its large population of 1.216 billion, the African continent has lost 37,000 people to the covid-19 outbreak, an anemic—if deplorable—number compared to the 210,000 so far that have succumbed to the pandemic in the United States, a country of 328 million people. In fact, Africa has had a better response to the health crisis than most developed nations, not just the United States.

Barely was the first case announced in Egypt back in February—at a time U.S. President Donald Trump was downplaying the health crisis, saying it would disappear by miracle—than John Nkengasong, director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control, convened a meeting of African health ministers to map out a strategy. The gathering, attended by 40 health ministers from all regions of the continent in Addis Ababa on 22 February, led to the development of the Africa Joint Continental Strategy for COVID-19, a blueprint that has helped coordinate government actions to combat the pandemic.

Authorities say the number of deaths would have been much higher without the sense of urgency shown by African health experts, leading to prompt measures such as lockdown, the promotion of proper hygiene specific to the coronavirus, air travel bans that quickly went into effect in several countries, including in countries such as Zimbabwe, Benin, and others before they even had one case.

A joint procurement platform launched in June by the Africa CDC enabled the supply of personal protective equipment and medical supplies to governments. That is not to mention a testing campaign that made it possible to test more than 15 million throughout the continent. Unlike richer nations, African nations have not hesitated to pay the economic price of keeping up the protective measures. (It’s no secret the pandemic flared up recently across Europe as a result of the economic reopening.) Just recently, African nations started a campaign to coordinate measures to allow safe travels through airports.

In a recent interview with the Voice of America, Africa CDC director John Nkengasong said: “That momentum that we had developed in Addis Ababa became the galvanizing force for countries to do the work we had agreed on.”

The official goes on to applaud the sense of unity the [often-ridiculed] continent has displayed on the occasion of the pandemic:

“This COVID-19 crisis has really exposed the divisions that exist in the world, and also exposed the unity on the continent. I think the continent has come together more than I’ve ever seen in my 30 years of public health service.”

But Africa did not do it all alone, and probably could not have done it alone. A World Health Organization initiative known as Joint External Evaluations, which helps countries to prevent, detect and respond to public health risks, was instrumental in supporting African governments’ efforts to mitigate the crisis by helping fill the gaps in the preparedness of these economically-challenged economies.

African political and health leaders have earned praises for their ability to contain the spread of covid-19 and to limit the number of deaths—more so than some richer nations. The following statement by Africa CDC director: “I think for Africa we have done the best with the limited resources that we have,” is worth its weight in gold. But other factors have helped, too: the experience and lessons learned from past epidemics such as the 2014 Ebola outbreak in West Africa which resulted in 28,600 cases and 11,325 deaths. Other important factors, experts speculate, are the young structure of the African population, with a median age of 19.7 against 38.2 in the U.S. and 43.1 in Europe; the warmer climate on the continent, and anti-bodies from pre-existing infections.