Africa’s innovation and creative response to COVID-19

ABSTRACT

Rather than decimation and devastation, COVID-19 appears to reveal Africa’s innovation and resourcefulness in fighting disease, but this has largely escaped scholarship. Using various search engines, keywords and phrases, we conducted a scoping review of common key innovations and strategies Africa’s 54 countries deployed to fight COVID-19. Our results show that African countries have used old tools and approaches in new ways, developed and adapted new technologies, and creatively used limited resources. Thus, COVID provides an opportunity for unparalleled transformation in health care and economy. We offer some policy options for scaling up and sustaining this positive transformation.

KEYWORDS:

• COVID-19 pandemic
• healthcare systems
• innovations
• e-commerce policy response

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Joseph R. Oppong

Joseph R. Oppong is a Professor of Geography and Academic Associate Dean of The Robert Toulouse Graduate School at the University of North Texas, where he has been teaching and doing research since 1992. Dr. Oppong’s research centers on the geography of disease and health services and seeks to answer the question: who is getting what disease where and why? Previous research topics include HIV/AIDS in Africa and Texas, Buruli Ulcer in Ghana, and Tuberculosis in Tarrant County. A native of Ghana, Dr. Oppong has a BA in Geography from the University of Ghana and Masters and PhD degrees from the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada. He has served as Chair of the Medical and Health Geography Specialty Group and also the Africa Specialty Group of the Association of American Geographers. His current research focuses on disease mapping and simulating geographic patterns of communicable disease spread. Dr. Oppong currently serves on the governing council of the American Association of Geographers.

Yvonne A. Dadson

Yvonne A. Dadson is a graduate student in Public Administration at the University of North Texas. She holds Master of Philosophy (MPhil) and Bachelor of Arts degrees in Economics from the University of Ghana and Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, respectively. Her research interest is governance and public policy. E-mail: [email protected]

Hilary Ansah

Hilary Ansah is a graduate student in Geography at the University of North Texas. She has a BA in Economics and Geography from the University of Ghana. Her research interests include globalization, urban geography, political economy and social theory. Hilary’s current research focuses on understanding how contemporary processes of globalization are transforming urban processes and the informal economy particularly, street hawking in Ghana. Email: [email protected].