Reflections On The Africa Debate

'Connect. Invest. Trade' was the theme of this year's Africa Debate and inevitably, COVID-19 featured heavily in discussions. 

When the virus first landed in Cairo back in February, many around the world expected the worst for the Africa's 1.3 billion inhabitants given its rudimentary healthcare facilities. Yet with 20 per cent of the world's population, Africa's case-fatality ratio is around four per cent. This pales in comparison to the USA, which has a 25 per cent case-fatality ration when accounting for just four per cent of the world's population. In fact, Africa's case-fatality ration has consistently remained lower than the global figure and African nations have regularly confirmed fewer cases per capita than more developed countries. This has been attributed to a number of factors including: the continent's experience in preparing for and dealing with infectious diseases such as Ebola, Dengue Fever and SARS; its youthful population (the median age is 19.4);