Is Africa prepared for tackling the COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) epidemic. Lessons from past outbreaks, ongoing pan-African public health efforts, and implications for the future

Nathan Kapata; Chikwe Ihekweazu; Francine Ntoumi; Tajudeen Raji; Pascalina Chanda-Kapata; Peter Mwaba; Victor Mukonka; Matthew Bates; John Tembo; Victor Corman; Sayoki Mfinanga; Danny Asogun; Linzy Elton; Liã Bárbara Arruda; Margaret J Thomason; Leonard Mboera; Alexei Yavlinsky; Najmul Haider; David Simons; Lara Hollmann; Swaib A Lule; Francisco Veas; Muzamil Mahdi Abdel Hamid; Osman Dar; Sarah Edwards; Francesco Vairo; Timothy D McHugh; Christian Drosten; Richard Kock; Giuseppe Ippolito; Alimuddin Zumla

doi:10.1016/j.ijid.2020.02.049

Is Africa prepared for tackling the COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) epidemic. Lessons from past outbreaks, ongoing pan-African public health efforts, and implications for the future

Int J Infect Dis. 2020 Apr:93:233-236. doi: 10.1016/j.ijid.2020.02.049. Epub 2020 Feb 28.

Authors

Nathan Kapata¹, Chikwe Ihekweazu², Francine Ntoumi³, Tajudeen Raji⁴, Pascalina Chanda-Kapata⁵, Peter Mwaba⁶, Victor Mukonka⁷, Matthew Bates⁸, John Tembo⁹, Victor Corman¹⁰, Sayoki Mfinanga¹¹, Danny Asogun¹², Linzy Elton¹³, Liã Bárbara Arruda¹⁴, Margaret J Thomason¹⁵, Leonard Mboera¹⁶, Alexei Yavlinsky¹⁷, Najmul Haider¹⁸, David Simons¹⁹, Lara Hollmann²⁰, Swaib A Lule²¹, Francisco Veas²², Muzamil Mahdi Abdel Hamid²³, Osman Dar²⁴, Sarah Edwards²⁵, Francesco Vairo²⁶, Timothy D McHugh²⁷, Christian Drosten²⁸, Richard Kock²⁹, Giuseppe Ippolito³⁰, Alimuddin Zumla³¹

Affiliations

¹ Zambia National Public Health Institute, Minsitry of Health, Lusaka, Zambia. Electronic address: nkapata@gmail.com.
² Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, Jabi, Abuja, Nigeria. Electronic address: chikwe.ihekweazu@ncdc.gov.ng.
³ University Marien NGouabi, Brazzaville, Congo; Institute for Tropical Medicine/University of Tübingen, Germany. Electronic address: fntoumi@fcrm-congo.com.
⁴ Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Electronic address: TajudeenR@africa-union.org.
⁵ Ministry of Health, Lusaka, Zambia. Electronic address: pascykapata@gmail.com.
⁶ Lusaka Apex Medical University, Lusaka, Zambia. Electronic address: pbmwaba2000@gmail.com.
⁷ National Public Health Institute, Ministry of Health, Lusaka, Zambia. Electronic address: vmukonka@gmail.com.
⁸ School of Life Sciences, University of Lincoln, Lincoln, United Kingdom. Electronic address: mbates@lincoln.ac.uk.
⁹ HerpeZ and UNZA-UCLMS Project, University Teaching Hospital, Lusaka, Zambia. Electronic address: john.tembo@gmail.com.
¹⁰ Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Institute of Virology, Berlin, Germany; German Centre for Infection Research (DZIF), Berlin, Germany. Electronic address: victor.corman@charite.de.
¹¹ National Institute of Medical Research, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Electronic address: gsmfinanga@yahoo.com.
¹² Institute of Lassa Fever Research and Control, Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital, Irrua, Nigeria. Electronic address: asogun2001@yahoo.com.
¹³ Center for Clinical Microbiology, Division of Infection and Immunity, University College London, Royal Free Hospital Campus, London, United Kingdom. Electronic address: linzy.elton@ucl.ac.uk.
¹⁴ Center for Clinical Microbiology, Division of Infection and Immunity, University College London, Royal Free Hospital Campus, London, United Kingdom. Electronic address: l.arruda@ucl.ac.uk.
¹⁵ Center for Clinical Microbiology, Division of Infection and Immunity, University College London, Royal Free Hospital Campus, London, United Kingdom. Electronic address: m.thomason@ucl.ac.uk.
¹⁶ SACIDS Foundation for One Health, Sokoine University of Agriculture, Morogoro, Tanzania. Electronic address: leonard.mboera@sacids.org.
¹⁷ Institute of Health Informatics, Faculty of Pop Health Sciences, UCL, London, United Kingdom. Electronic address: a.yavlinsky@ucl.ac.uk.
¹⁸ The Royal Veterinary College, University of London, Hatfield, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom. Electronic address: nhaider@rvc.ac.uk.
¹⁹ The Royal Veterinary College, University of London, Hatfield, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom. Electronic address: dsimons19@rvc.ac.uk.
²⁰ Chatham House Centre on Global Health Security, Royal Institute of International Affairs, London, United Kingdom. Electronic address: LHollmann@chathamhouse.org.
²¹ Institute for Global Health, University College London, London, United Kingdom. Electronic address: swaiblule@gmail.com.
²² Faculty of Pharmacy, Montpellier University, IRD UMR5569, Montpellier, France. Electronic address: francisco.veas@ird.fr.
²³ Dept of Parasitology and Medical Entomology, Institute of Endemic Diseases, University of Khartoum, Sudan. Electronic address: mahdi@iend.org.
²⁴ Chatham House Centre on Global Health Security, Royal Institute of International Affairs, London, United Kingdom. Electronic address: Osman.Dar@phe.gov.uk.
²⁵ Ethics and Governance, University College London, London, United Kingdom. Electronic address: sarah.edwards@ucl.ac.uk.
²⁶ National Institute for Infectious Diseases Lazzaro Spallanzani - IRCCS, Rome, Italy. Electronic address: francesco.vairo@inmi.it.
²⁷ Center for Clinical Microbiology, Division of Infection and Immunity, University College London, Royal Free Hospital Campus, London, United Kingdom. Electronic address: t.mchugh@ucl.ac.uk.
²⁸ Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Institute of Virology, Berlin, Germany; German Centre for Infection Research (DZIF), Berlin, Germany. Electronic address: christian.drosten@charite.de.
²⁹ The Royal Veterinary College, University of London, Hatfield, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom. Electronic address: rkock@rvc.ac.uk.
³⁰ National Institute for Infectious Diseases - Lazzaro Spallanzani - IRCCS, Rome, Italy. Electronic address: giuseppe.ippolito@inmi.it.
³¹ Center for Clinical Microbiology, Division of Infection and Immunity, University College London, Royal Free Hospital Campus, London, United Kingdom; Division of Infection and Immunity, University College London and NIHR Biomedical Research Centre, UCL Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, London, United Kingdom. Electronic address: a.zumla@ucl.ac.uk.

No abstract available

Publication types

Editorial
Comment

MeSH terms

Africa
Betacoronavirus
COVID-19
Coronavirus Infections
Disease Outbreaks
Emergencies
Epidemics*
Humans
Pandemics
Pneumonia, Viral
Public Health
SARS-CoV-2
Severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus*
World Health Organization