Abstract

Africa’s response to the outbreak of infectious diseases has come under scrutiny over the years and the outbreak of COVID-19 has exacerbated the situation. The rapid spread of this virus is causing mayhem and panic within the global domain questioning the readiness of public health systems to deal with a pandemic of this magnitude. This has undoubtedly catapulted the word “COVID-19” as a new buzzword. It is in this context that the paper uses desktop research to delve deeper into understanding South Africa and Zimbabwe’s responses to the outbreak of COVID-19. In doing so, the main impetus of the paper is to interrogate the public health system and socio-economic implications of this pandemic on both countries. As part of its findings, the paper noted that both countries are a tale of two paradoxes: one with a middle-income status and the other a low-income status; a key factor in determining the level and effectiveness response strategies to this alarming health crisis. However, despite these economic disparities and differential income status, this pandemic has revealed that both countries have similar deep-rooted problems in their already overburdened public health systems. Moreover, the situation is further catapulted and exacerbated by underlying socio-economic factors such as poverty, unemployment, inequality, slow economic development, inadequate water and sanitation, and food insecurity that have made dealing with this pandemic a huge challenge. The paper concludes that the response and attempts to tackle COVID-19 by South Africa and Zimbabwe heavily rely on their health capacity and favourable socio-economic conditions.

摘要

多年来，非洲对传染病暴发的反应已受到严格审查，COVID-19的暴发加剧了这种情况。这种病毒的迅速传播正在全球范围内引起混乱和恐慌，质疑公共卫生系统是否准备好应对这种大流行。无疑，这使“ COVID-19”一词成为新的流行词。在这种背景下，本文利用桌面研究来更深入地了解南非和津巴布韦对COVID-19疫情的反应。通过这样做，本文的主要动力是询问公共卫生系统以及该流行病对两国的社会经济影响。作为其调查结果的一部分，该白皮书指出，两国都是两个悖论的故事：一个处于中等收入状态，另一个处于低收入状态；确定此令人震惊的健康危机的水平和有效性的对策的关键因素。然而，尽管存在这些经济差异和收入状况的差异，但这种大流行表明，两国在已经负担沉重的公共卫生系统中也存在着类似的根深蒂固的问题。此外，贫困，失业，不平等，经济发展缓慢，水和卫生设施不足以及粮食不安全等潜在的社会经济因素进一步加剧了这种情况，并加剧了应对这种大流行的挑战。本文的结论是，南非和津巴布韦对COVID-19的应对和尝试在很大程度上取决于它们的卫生能力和良好的社会经济条件。