Africa defied the early Covid-19 doomsday predictions, with 200,000 deaths – a smidgen of the tens of millions that had been projected. It was dubbed “the great mystery of the pandemic”.
The economic impact, however, has been heavy. The disruption of critical health services scuttled years of progress fighting other deadly diseases, such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), tuberculosis (TB), and malaria, which continue to be the leading causes of death on the continent. Africa was also hit hard by vaccine inequality.
Moving forward, how does Africa respond to pandemics while identifying opportunities around regional cooperation and open borders in dealing with the challenges?