A review of the latest news, statistics and analysis of the influence of COVID-19 in Africa. Check out our data tracking tool and subscribe to our weekly newsletter. This week: the long-term vaccine production in Africa, “horrible” food choices, and more.
Absolutely speaking through ONE: Almost all vaccines administered in Africa are manufactured elsewhere, posing a threat and an opportunity to the continent. The asymmetric distribution of vaccine production sites coincides with unequal access to vaccines. Increasing vaccine production capacity in Africa is about fighting preventable diseases, and it is an economic and task-creating strategy. Learn more in ONE’s latest knowledge immersion.
Last ACT?: The ACT-Accelerator turns out to be ending, at least in its current iteration, perhaps already in September. This may leave a gap in the global effort to achieve some equity in vaccines. ACT-A has played a vital role in the safe manufacture of COVID-19 vaccines being delivered to low- and middle-income countries, shipping more than a billion vaccines and raising more than $23 billion to fund vaccines and vaccine delivery. But the donor government’s budget has shrunk this year and global interest in proceeding to treat COVID-19 as a pressing risk has waned. As Jenny Ottenhoff, senior director of global health policy at ONE, noted, “it makes no sense for [ACT-A] to end until the whole world is in a position to move to a longer-term sustainable reaction to the virus. “
Trade solidarity: The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) can generate profits in Africa by 9% and lift 50 million people out of extreme poverty by 2035, if fully implemented. This would require the harmonization of investment, competition, e-commerce and intellectual asset rights policies. Driven by the accumulation of manufactured goods, Africa’s global exports may increase by almost a third by 2035, and intra-African exports would more than double. contribution to strengthening Africa’s food security and resilience.
Hunger pangs: Hunger affected 1 in 10 people worldwide in 2021, and nearly 3 in 10 people faced moderate or severe food insecurity. the converging crises of COVID-19, climate and conflict. Five million young people under the age of five suffered wasting, a fatal form of malnutrition that increases the threat of death by up to 12 times. 149 million young people under the age of five have been delayed in development due to a chronic lack of nutrients. Almost nothing: G7 countries recently committed just $4. 5 billion to food security, a fifth of the amount the World Food Programme wants this year alone.
Possible “horrible” options: The war in Ukraine is attracting urgently needed aid to the Horn of Africa, which is suffering its worst drought in decades. African countries remain severely underfunded, forcing aid teams to create potential “horrible” options in the distribution of limited resources. of drought. The number of young people threatening to drop out of school in the region has tripled in the last 3 months to 3. 3 million. Eager to deflect blame for the direct effect its war in Ukraine has had on world hunger, Russia is spreading incorrect information in Africa that Western sanctions are to blame for food shortages.
Don’t worry: bakers in Côte d’Ivoire are replacing cassava produced with wheat in bread due to rising world wheat prices. The country imports up to one million tons of wheat a year and the government subsidizes the country’s 2500 bakeries to help offset emerging wheat costs. Meanwhile, bakers from across West Africa will gather in Dakar later this month to launch a lobbying effort for a regional benchmark of up to 15% local content in bread products, which would gain advantages for both bakers and local farmers. And growing interest in indigenous cereals like fonio, an ancient cereal that grows smoothly and is rich in nutrients, can contribute to food security.
Insurgent rebels: Recent attacks through an insurgent organization along the border between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda have rekindled the rift between the two countries and raised the specter of war. Attacks through the M23, an insurgent organization with longstanding ties to Rwanda’s government, have displaced more than 150,000 others in a region long plagued by violence and insecurity. Rwanda and Uganda have been accused of supporting insurgent teams in the Democratic Republic of Congo to advance their own economic interests. Because bad government knows no borders. In happier news, the Democratic Republic of Congo has declared an end to its latest Ebola outbreak.
Arab fall: A draft charter in Tunisia to be put to a vote in a referendum on July 25 would particularly expand presidential power, which worries opposition leaders and observers. Symbol of the democratic opening of the Arab Spring, Tunisia has increasingly flirted with authoritarianism under Kais Saied, who has been president since 2019. A legal expert personally selected through Saied to draft the letter says the existing edition does not resemble the edition he helped draft and, if approved, could lead to “a shameful dictatorial regime. “Tunisia’s democratic withdrawal is a component of a worrying trend: 80% of the world’s population lives with less freedom of expression than a década. @#$%
Risky business: The Central African Republic has announced its goal of launching a cryptocurrency that it believes will be subsidized through Bitcoin. The viability of the plan, given the country’s high levels of poverty and low levels of electricity and web connectivity, is unclear. In Kenya, up to four million people have been affected by the fall in cryptocurrency values. Meanwhile, Uganda’s central bank raised interest rates by 1% in an effort to combat inflation. In the face of emerging debt, inflation and protests, the Ghanaian government is turning around and seeking help from the IMF, having promised in the past not to.
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