Abstract:
COVID-19, and the novel coronavirus causing it, has been declared
a pandemic by the World Health Organization. It presents with
signs and symptoms of respiratory illness, and other nonspecific
symptoms. These symptoms may be mild enough to go unnoticed,
or severe enough to overwhelm a healthcare system in a First-World
country. It is an emerging problem that can potentially put intolerable
strain on a health system that is fragile and likely to collapse, such
as those that exist in Africa. Extraordinary times like these require
ingenious statesmanship and astutely calculated plans to see a nation
emerge through the crisis. And in such a crisis, special attention
needs to be directed to the healthcare system, where medical
attention, equipment and interventions need to be carefully rationed.
To date, sub-Saharan Africa has not seen the devastation wrought
on the Northern Hemisphere. That may be fortuitous, we may be
lucky, it may just be coming.
