Sub-Saharan Africa’s Agriculture and COVID-19: How the Pandemic Will (re)Shape Food Markets

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“The impact of COVID-19, together with other shocks such as locusts, fall armyworm and climate change, suggests the need for policymakers to be agile in their responses to multi-layered crises. The era of heightened uncertainty, volatility and complexity resulting from these multiple crises, with COVID-19 being a key turning point, calls for a fundamental change to the governance and architecture of sub-Saharan Africa’s food systems.”

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via SAIIA

A Global Warning System: Mobilizing Surveillance for Emerging Pathogens

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“The pandemic revealed significant gaps in early warning capabilities to detect and respond to emerging pathogens before they cause global harm. Given the current situation, how can we leverage existing systems and emerging technologies to better characterize the various risk factors that could signal the next pandemic?”

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via Milken Institute

At home with the Batwa people of Uganda: A photo essay

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“Paid tours are what is left for the Batwa to continue their traditional ways as they did in the forest. The COVID-19 blow to tourism has greatly affected the incomes of many performers in the settlements.”

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via The Guardian (UK)

COVID-19: Make it the Last Pandemic

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“Pandemic preparedness planning is a core function of governments and of the international system and must be overseen at the highest level. It is not a responsibility of the health sector alone.”

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via The Independent Panel

How an outbreak became a pandemic

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“We look at the state of preparedness prior to this pandemic, the identification of the virus (SARS-CoV-2) and the disease it caused (COVID-19) and responses globally, regionally and nationally, particularly in the pandemic’s early months, and the wide-ranging impact and social and economic crisis it has precipitated up to today.”

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via The Independent Panel

Disease surveillance for the COVID-19 era: Time for bold changes

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“As communities and economies struggle to recover from the consequences of these surveillance deficiencies, now is the time for countries and multilateral agencies to take a hard look at what failed and to act boldly to implement the necessary improvements to disease surveillance.”

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via The Lancet

The stark global divide in the COVID-19 pandemic

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“COVAX has relied heavily on Indian developers for supplies, but deliveries have now stalled as India grapples with a violent resurgence of the pandemic. With more than 930,000 people inoculated in Kenya so far, vaccines are expected to be exhausted in the coming days.”

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via CNN

Building Anticipatory Governance in SADC: Post-COVID-19 Governance Outlook

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“Endemic corruption, weak state-society relations, and the stubborn legacies of the colonial project in the region has left a number of SADC member states with fragile, unaccountable and inefficient governance systems, which proved incapable of responding effectively to COVID-19.”

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via SAIIA

Optimising Agricultural Value Chains in Southern Africa After COVID-19

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“Although agriculture has been less severely affected by COVID-19 than other sectors, the pandemic has nevertheless exposed challenges in SADC agro value chains and highlighted areas for improvement.”

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via SAIIA

COVID-19 in Nigeria

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“While the government was prompt to address the health and socio-economic dimensions of the pandemic, the lockdowns, school closures and other emergency restrictions were imposed hurriedly without adequate preparation and poor consultation with appropriate stakeholders.”

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via INCLUDE & CSEA