“The G7 has promised to donate 1 billion Covid vaccine doses by the end of 2021. However, in South Sudan, COVID-19 restrictions, aid cuts and comments by European leaders have shattered trust in public health advice and encouraged vaccine hesitancy. Despite the rhetoric, donating vaccines while cutting aid may prove meaningless.”
“While many countries have adopted top-down approaches to COVID-19 prevention, such as mandating certain health behaviours, our research suggests that peer-to-peer messaging may also be an important way for health behaviours to spread.”
“Public understandings of COVID-19 have shifted over time in Malawi, affected by infection rates and experiences beyond its borders. During a year of political upheavals in the country, Steve Beloved Kaunga reports from Blantyre on how citizen commentaries have interacted with government public health messages.”
“As we battle COVID-19 and the toll it has taken on the world today, we must listen to the often-overlooked voices of those who will inherit the world of tomorrow. Inequalities expert Foluke Adetola Ojelabi looks at the youngest victims of COVID-19 and its countless impacts – and of the unequal social order that long predates the pandemic.”
“Lockdown measures in Malawi have been met with fierce public demonstrations and legal challenges, set against further constitutional orders to rerun the previous year’s election.”
“Schools and universities were closed in Malawi for five months from March 2020, as a precaution against virus transmission. Now schools have recently reopened to support and concern across the country.”
“Research into the effects of COVID-19 on young people in Tanzania reveals high levels of anxiety about the virus as it relates to relationships, economic livelihoods and the community. The research draws further attention to the need for governments to consider the disease’s wider social and psychological impacts.”
“To understand the response to COVID-19 in Africa we must look beyond actions taken by formal states. The roles played by various public authorities, operating below the national level, are crucial in shaping the pandemic’s long-term legacy.”
“Rumours about the virus, combined with the economic damage and loss of jobs from its containment, have invited much comment and significant panic among people across the country, and for the people in Chikwawa what they most need is change.”
“While infection numbers and deaths from the epidemic remain low, COVID-19 prevention measures in Kenya have significantly impacted daily incomes for Kakamega county residents. Disrupted movement and supply chains have had far-reaching repercussions, pushing many deeper into poverty and creating opportunities for others.”
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