Although the COVID-19 pandemic had claimed over one million lives globally by late 2020, Africa had avoided a massive outbreak. Patterson and Balogun analyze pandemic responses by the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention and various states collaborating with civil society. They argue that responses display forms of agency rooted in contextually relevant expertise, pan-African solidarity, and lessons learned about health messaging and community mobilization from previous health crises. Yet collaboration has not always been harmonious, as actors have adopted various approaches in their interactions with global health institutions and civil society partnerships, and they have actively debated the use of traditional medicine as a COVID-19 treatment.

尽管到2020年末，COVID-19大流行已经在全球夺走了100万人的生命，但非洲避免了大规模爆发。帕特森（Patterson）和巴洛根（Balogun）分析了非洲疾病控制与预防中心以及各州与民间社会合作开展的大流行对策。他们争辩说，回应显示出机构的形式植根于上下文相关的专业知识，泛非团结以及从以前的健康危机中汲取的有关卫生信息和社区动员的经验教训。然而，合作并不总是和谐的，因为参与者在与全球卫生机构和民间社会伙伴关系的互动中采用了各种方法，并且他们积极辩论了将传统医学用作COVID-19的治疗方法。