Joining forces to tackle COVID-19 in Africa

By Keith Kibirango, Head of Africa Philanthropy at Save the Children, and Dawda Jawara III, Partner at Altica Partners and founder of the Africa Pandemic Response Alliance (APRA).

At first glance, APRA and Save the Children are not natural bedfellows. One is a limited company staffed by business people and financial experts whose day jobs involve investing in companies and striking deals. The other is the world’s leading non-profit humanitarian organisation for children. 

And yet, look a little closer and we have something very important in common: both organisations are deeply concerned about and very well placed to help tackle the challenges that COVID-19 poses for Africa. APRA itself was borne out of conversations within Altica Partners around the COVID-19 Pandemic in Africa. It’s this shared interest, and the complementarity of our skill sets, that inspired us to join forces to help contain and prevent the spread of COVID-19 in African nations, and address the knock-on impact of the pandemic on children in these communities. 

With more than 197,000 confirmed cases and over 5,300 recorded deaths from COVID-19 (as of 9 June), Africa has so far been less hard-hit than many other regions. Possible reasons for the slower spread include a younger population, effective lockdowns, and rapid implementation of lessons learned from containing Ebola. However, significant outbreaks persist, testing (and therefore accurate information) is limited, and the threat remains. Containment and preventive measures are critical to ensuring that caseloads remain low and already fragile health systems aren’t overwhelmed. 

Save the Children is already working with communities to help to slow the spread of coronavirus, distributing protective equipment and supplies, and activating its network of community health workers to support vulnerable children and families. By partnering with the Africa Pandemic Response Alliance – aka APRA – Save the Children will be able to access more funds to support this vital work, and will also benefit from the financial expertise, market knowledge, and networks that APRA has to ensure help reaches those most in need. 

The funds raised as a result of the campaign will be spent on providing medical and protective equipment to healthcare workers in at-risk countries, as well as a range of activities focused on raising awareness and prevention. We will also work alongside African governments to increase payments to parents and healthcare workers for health and nutrition services, and finance systems for contact tracing and reporting. Our work will initially focus on higher risk countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Somalia, Ethiopia, C?te d’Ivoire , Rwanda, Zambia, Malawi, Kenya, Sudan, South Sudan and Uganda. Other countries will be included on a case-by-case basis.  

In addition to tackling the immediate healthcare threat posed by this pandemic, we want to work together to anticipate and address the longer-term economic impacts of COVID-19 for Africa. Many African nations are highly reliant on revenue from remittances and commodity exports, both of which have been disrupted by the pandemic. At the individual level, people have seen incomes plummet – especially in the informal sector – making it hard to afford the essentials of daily life. As with previous economic downturns, women and children will bear the brunt, in large part due to difficulties accessing healthcare and education.

The pandemic highlights the need for pan-African coordination and innovative new approaches, such as our partnership between unlikely bedfellows. COVID-19 has blurred the boundaries between public, private, and third sectors, and demands that everyone step out of their comfort zone – whether that’s financial firms seeking to address a public health crisis, manufacturers pivoting to personal protective equipment production or NGOs adapting to commodities-like markets to secure medical supplies. By bringing our expertise and networks together, APRA and Save the Children will be able to pool resources and respond in an effective and timely manner. 

In the long run, there are characteristics of the African continent – its underlying demographics and emerging middle class, its natural resources for which demand is rebounding – that provide reasons for optimism. As the pandemic subsides, there is an opportunity for governments and others working in Africa to ‘build back better’ – investing in the systems, infrastructure and safety nets that will reduce vulnerability and equip countries to deal with the next crisis. By working together now, we hope to help prevent the worst impacts of COVID-19 and lay the foundations for a brighter future. 

?To find out more and / or to donate to the Africa Pandemic Response Campaign, visit: www.africapra.org