The latest edition of Africa Update is out! We’ve got mental health in Ghana, home brewing in South Africa, vintage Somali May Day celebrations, Nigerian digital art, and more.
West Africa: In Ghana, activists are encouraging men to speak out about their mental health issues. Ghana is also using drones to efficiently transport coronavirus test swabs for analysis. Lockdowns are hitting countries like Senegal hard, where 85% of people in a recent survey said their incomes had dropped.
Central Africa: Uganda has banned the import of used clothing over concerns about coronavirus. Uganda has also prohibited the use of public transport during the pandemic, even though this is cutting many people off from medical care and increasing rates of domestic violence. This is a strangely beautiful drone video of Kampala’s empty streets during lockdown. Here’s how a financier of the Rwandan genocide was captured in France 26 years later.
East Africa: Somalia has launched its first ever government-run cash transfer program for over 1 million vulnerable citizens. Somalia also has few reported coronavirus deaths, but informal reports from gravediggers suggest the real toll is higher. Kenya has created a new state corporation meant to profit from the labor of people in prisons. Tanzania appears to be covering up its real number of coronavirus deaths, even as the president has refused to take basic safety precautions.
Southern Africa: Malawi is one of the few countries without a coronavirus lockdown, after the high court blocked it over concerns of its economic impact on poor citizens. South Africa banned alcohol sales during the lockdown, leading supermarkets to just coincidentally leave all the ingredients for home brewing next to each other. South African Airways will be divided up amongst its competitors after going into bankruptcy.
Coronavirus: Many African countries have limited scientific lab capacity, and had to use it for testing instead of genomic sequencing, which means that any eventual vaccine might not be as effective for viral strains on the continent. There’s some interesting data here about the varied nature of lockdowns across Africa, including the fact that most countries imposed them unusually early, with fewer than 10 domestic cases. Reporting on coronavirus in Africa should do more to highlight the many mutual aid groups supporting their communities.
Other health news: A new malaria vaccine being piloted in Ghana, Kenya and Malawi could make the virus less severe. Only 18 African countries have adequate systems for recording births and deaths. Putting chlorine dispensers next to communal water sites is an easy way to improve sanitation in Uganda.
Agriculture: Here’s a good summary of how the pandemic is affecting food systems across Africa. People used to respond to locust invasions in East Africa by eating them, but new research says that this strategy doesn’t work any longer as the bugs are exposed to too many pesticides. How can regional rice market integration help avoid shortages in West Africa? Exports of medical marijuana and hemp are growing across Africa, even as many countries still ban recreational smoking.
Economics + technology: Global remittance flows are expected to drop by more than US$100 billion as immigrants abroad are affected by the pandemic. African tax collectors don’t have very many good options for making up lost revenue due to the pandemic. On the bright side, the virus is driving innovations in technology across Africa.
Gender: Check out the great resources at the African Feminism website and the African Feminist Archive. Meet the female athletes breaking barriers in Somaliland. Nigeria has some of the world’s strictest abortion laws, and over 60,000 women die annually from illegal abortions or complications during childbirth. Rwanda has pardoned 50 women accused of having illegal abortions, but hasn’t changed its restrictive abortion laws.
Immigration: In China, African immigrants are facing discrimination over fears that they’re spreading the virus. Israel has nullified a law which discouraged people from applying for asylum by forcing them to deposit 20% of their monthly salaries in savings accounts. Meet the scholar studying the global fashion history of the African diaspora. And Astrid Haas and I have written about whether safe rural migration programs could support urban safety nets in African countries during the pandemic.