Youth & COVID-19 Prevention in Africa
In their new paper on “Youth & COVID-19 Prevention in Africa, authors Alcinda Honwana and Nyeleti Honwana discuss the pandemic’s impact on young people across Africa and the need for measures to stop its spread that aligns with the social and cultural values of their communities.
“Africa’s large youth population must play a prominent role, as key drivers in the combat to the pandemic.”
COVID-19 is among the deadliest pandemics the world has experienced. The virus has infected and killed millions, while essentially bringing global socio-economic life to a standstill. The African continent has, thus far, been comparatively unscathed with just under 100,000 confirmed infections and about 3,000 fatalities at the end of May 2020.[1] While some analysts estimate that the situation will worsen in the coming months, what is already clear is the heavy economic, social and emotional toll of the pandemic on the continent. Given the largely under resourced healthcare systems and lack of social safety nets, Africa’s best hope for mitigating the spread of COVID-19 lie in community-based prevention efforts. This will require very strong locally led campaigns of information dissemination, along with community mobilisation and sensitisation. We contend that Africa’s large youth population must play a prominent role, as key drivers in the combat to the pandemic. Moreover, we argue for prevention interventions that are germane to the communities’ social and cultural values in order to be fully engrained in their everyday life praxis.
This paper asserts that mitigation tactics that articulate innovative strategies better are suited to local conditions, rather than simply reproducing often incongruent strategies from the global North, such as social and physical distancing, lockdowns and isolation. The majority of African urban populations live in crowded slums, working in the informal sector. There are numerous examples of how social distancing violations, have led to confrontations between people and the police.[2] Violent police enforcement of lockdowns in Kinshasa, DRC is stoking public anger; and in Eldoret, Kenya, crowds defied the 7 pm curfew, protesting their inability to make a living.[3]
[1] Data from the Africa CDC Dashboard is tracking this data. For more information see: https://africacdc.org/covid-19/
[2] See: Lashitew, Addisu. 2020. “Social distancing unlikely to hold up in Africa without a safety net for micro-entrepreneurs.” April. Brookings Institution. Available at: https://www.brookings.edu/blog/africa-in-focus/2020/04/09/social-distancing-unlikely-to-hold-up-in-africa-without-a-safety-net-for-microentrepreneurs/
[3] See: Zhu, April. 2020. “Five ideas on how to ease the impact of COVID-19 lockdowns in Kenya.” The New Humanitarian. Available at: https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/news/2020/04/06/kenya-coronavirus-lockdowns
Download and read the full paper HERE
Listen to our “Conversations With” podcast featuring Alcinda and Nyeleti discussing their article HERE
Alcinda Honwana is the Centennial Professor of Anthropology and International Development and strategic director of the Firoz Lalji Centre for Africa at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). She is also a member of the Advisory Board of the SSRC’s Next Generation Social Sciences in Africa. Professor Honwana undertakes research on political conflict and politics of culture and the impact of war on children, youth, and women, as well as on youth politics, social movements, and political protest. Her most recent books include Youth and Revolution in Tunisia and The Time of Youth: Work, Social Change, and Politics in Africa.
Read her full bio HERE
Nyeleti Honwana is program officer and lead organizer of the Young African Scholars Program at the Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation. She is the co-founder of Global Black Youth, an organization that convenes innovative, disruptive, and entrepreneurial young Black leaders and supports them in generating knowledge and solutions that transform their ability to impact the world.
Read her full bio HERE