In the face of broken public health systems and populations weakened by hunger and communicable disease, particularly HIV and TB, an uncontrolled Covid-19 outbreak in southern Africa could wreak havoc and set back development, democracy and human rights by decades.
Southern Africa is a region of 345 million people. Although still divided by colonial borders, there is a huge amount of official and unofficial migration, much of it driven by poverty and economic necessity; some of it driven by people fleeing corrupt and increasingly authoritarian governments. That's why we need a co-ordinated regional response that takes account of these realities. Although the official numbers of Covid-19 infections remain extremely low, the region is very vulnerable. It needs an emergency plan. It doesn't seem as if one is coming.
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