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Dealing with Covid-19 in rural Africa: lessons from previous crises
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Online Location
https://www.odi.org/sites/odi.org.uk/files/resource-documents/200616_rural_africa_covid_2.pdf
Publication date
16/06/2020
Number of Pages
12
Language:
English
Type of Publication:
Studies
Focus Region:
Middle East & North Africa
Sub-Saharan Africa
Focus Topic:
Agricultural Value Chains / Agri-Businesses
Nutrition / Food Systems
Type of Risk:
Biological & environmental
Type of Risk Managment Option:
Risk reduction/mitigation
Commodity:
Other
Author
Steve Wiggins, Roger Calow, Joseph Feyertag, Simon Levine and Alexandra Löwe
Organization
Overseas Development Institute (ODI)
SUMMARY
This note summarises insights from a study commissioned by the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID), which examines the lessons that can be drawn from previous crises to inform responses to Covid-19 in rural Africa.
Most of the evidence comes from a review of seven viral health crises: HIV/AIDS; H5N1 (avian influenza); Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS); H1N1 (swine flu); Ebola virus disease (EVD) in West Africa and the Democratic Republic of Congo; and Covid-19 in China. Two economic shocks were also considered: the 1997 Asian financial crisis and the 2007/2008 food price spike.
It addresses two main questions:
- What might the consequences be of disease, and responses to it, on agriculture, rural livelihoods, food systems and food security?
- What lessons on dealing with those consequences can be drawn from previous crises?
Keywords: Covid-19