[Nairobi 8th Reuters] - In mid-April, Tanzanian President John Magufuli called for three days of prayer nationwide to protect the country from the new coronavirus. But less than a month later, the president declared his victory over Covid-19 and called for tourism to return to his country, located in East Africa.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that Tanzania, with a population of 55 million, has one of the weakest health systems in the East African region and has little information about the spread of the virus in the country. rice field.
The lack of reliable data is a common problem in many African countries. In some countries, governments are reluctant to allow epidemics to spread, or to expose their crumbling health systems to scrutiny by other nations. Others are impoverished by poverty and conflict and simply do not have the capacity to conduct significant testing.
Public health experts say sharing information is essential for coping with COVID-19 in Africa, both in terms of planning and seeking funding. At present, it is not possible to fully assess the severity of the epidemic across the African continent.
A continent of 1.3 billion people has 493,000 confirmed Covid-19 cases and 11,600 deaths, according to the latest data collected by Reuters. By comparison, Latin America, which has about half the population, has 2.9 million cases and 129,900 deaths.
Official figures alone suggest that much of Africa has escaped the Covid-19 pandemic, but it is certainly worse. WHO Special Envoy Samba Sou warned on May 25 that there could be a "silent spread" if testing was not stressed.
Across the continent, 4,200 tests per million people had been carried out by July 7, according to a Reuters analysis of data from the African Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), set up by the African Union in 2017. ing. That compares with 7,650 in Asia and 74,255 in Europe.
Interviews with dozens of health care workers, diplomats and local officials revealed more than just a lack of reliable testing in most African countries. Some governments go to great lengths to prevent information about infection rates from surfacing, even if it means missing out on funding.
Michael Yao, head of emergency response for the WHO Africa Programme, told Reuters: "We cannot help a country against its will." “In some countries, even though they are holding countermeasures meetings, they do not call us.
Yao declined to name specific countries, saying the WHO must maintain cooperation with governments.
Tanzania's first case of COVID-19 was confirmed on March 16th. The next day, the government convened a task force to coordinate the response with international partners, including the WHO, embassies and donors, according to multiple sources.
However, according to two diplomatic officials familiar with the matter, the task force has not invited outside officials since, and government officials have been invited to a number of coronavirus-related meetings. He said he didn't show up.
"It is clear that the government has not asked for any information about the COVID-19 situation in the country," said one aid official. Like many people who spoke to Reuters for this story, the aid official requested anonymity out of fear of upsetting a leading politician.
Tanzania's Health Minister Yumi Mwalim and a government spokesman did not respond to phone and email inquiries to raise questions about the crisis response. Spokesman Hassan Abbasi has previously denied covering up information about the coronavirus outbreak in the country.
Tanzania has not released national figures since May 8, when it announced 509 cases and 21 deaths. A few days earlier, President Magufuli had criticized on state television that test kits imported from abroad were defective and that samples taken from goats and pawpaws had also tested positive.
Three emails sent between May 8 and May 13, seen by Reuters, indicate that the WHO believes an agreement has been reached with the government for WHO to participate in a joint investigation in Tanzania. rice field. But a WHO spokeswoman said all joint investigations were canceled on the day they were due to begin, without giving any reason.
Two diplomatic officials involved have revealed that about $40 million (about 4.3 billion yen) has been contributed from supporting countries and organizations to Tanzania's countermeasures against the new coronavirus. But another official said Tanzania's unwillingness to take action has robbed it of an opportunity to get further "tens of millions of dollars" in aid.
In mid-May, the government decided to ease the lockdown, even though doctors and diplomats said it was far from containing the infection. The U.S. embassy warned Americans in Tanzania on May 13 that hospitals in the capital Dar es Salaam were "full", a claim the Tanzanian government denied at the time.
Tanzania's refusal to share information about the outbreak has raised concerns among neighboring countries. The movement of Tanzanians across loosely managed borders could undermine the gains made through painful lockdowns in their respective countries.
The WHO hosted a conference call on April 23 with African health ministers to discuss, among other things, the lack of information sharing, Yao said. Yao did not specify which country ministers had agreed to the consultations, and did not respond to a request for comment from Tanzania on whether its health minister was involved.
The WHO, a UN agency, cannot force cooperation, and careful steering is essential. At the end of April, WHO officials expressed concern about the inadequate measures to contain the virus in the small East African nation of Burundi. I was deported from the country.
Burundi was one of the first African countries to close its borders in March, which initially appeared to slow the spread of the virus. But one health care provider, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said suspected cases increased as rallies were held in preparation for the May 20 general election.
Burundi's President Pierre Nkurunziza died in early June, sparking rumors of a new coronavirus infection. A heart attack was the cause of his death, according to a government statement. An ambulance official told Reuters that he transported First Lady Dennis Bukmi to Kenya on May 21, but was clear about reports in Kenyan media that she had sought treatment for the novel coronavirus. didn't. A spokeswoman for the presidential family declined to comment.
New President Ebariste Ndaisimiye has promised measures to combat the pandemic, including mass testing of residents in areas suspected of being epicenters of the virus.
Equatorial Guinea is another African country whose relationship with the WHO has deteriorated. At the end of May, the government of Equatorial Guinea accused the WHO of inflating the number of cases and demanded that the WHO representative be dismissed. Since then, the country has not provided data to WHO. The WHO has said there was a "misunderstanding of the data", but has denied that the data were fabricated.
Equatorial Guinea's Deputy Health Minister Mithha Ondoo Ayekaba did not respond to repeated requests for comment on the conflict. Equatorial Guinea, located in central Africa, continues to provide regular updates to the Africa CDC, which now has 3,071 cases and 51 deaths.
Some countries refuse to share information, but there are also countries where information sharing is impossible in the first place. The health system is too exhausted to carry out mass testing, surveillance and contact tracing.
"Even in the best of times, it is not easy to collect quality data from countries because it is too taxing on workers," said John Nkengasong, director of the Africa CDC. “When you add an emergency to that, it becomes extremely difficult to collect data.”
In countries such as Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali, for example, the widespread presence of Islamic and nationalist militias has made it impossible for governments to have a national picture of the spread of the disease. It's becoming
In Burkina Faso, testing kits for people who have been in contact with an infected person or who have arrived from abroad is very limited because, like in other countries, there is a shortage of test kits. A Ministry of Health report shows that this leaves little data on how the virus spreads within the country.
In some countries, such as Cameroon and Nigeria, tests are being carried out by municipalities across the country, but others are being tested, according to epidemiologist Frank Ehrle, who works with international aid group Doctors Without Borders. In many countries, testing capacity is severely limited outside the capital.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo, with a population of 85 million, has already experienced dealing with the Ebola virus disease. took the plunge.
Still, it took the government three months to begin testing outside of Kinshasa, according to Steve Afka, a member of the country's COVID-19 task force. The cause is the lack of inspection facilities, equipment and personnel. Two doctors said it was still two weeks before test results were available in many areas.
South Africa, the continent's most advanced economy, is one of the few countries with extensive testing. But as of June 10, there were more than 63,000 unprocessed samples. The health ministry said global suppliers were unable to keep up with the demand for test kits. State-owned laboratories declined to disclose information when asked about the number of samples still pending.
The lack of comprehensive test data in some areas outside of Africa has led researchers to look at alternative criteria for assessing COVID-19 transmission. Excess deaths over the average at any point in the year is one of them.
But even these indicators are not available in most African countries due to the lack of normal year data. Only eight countries - Algeria, Cape Verde, Djibouti, Egypt, Mauritius, Namibia, Seychelles and South Africa - have recorded more than 75% of domestic deaths, according to the United Nations. Ethiopia's health ministry says less than 2% of deaths in the country have been recorded.
Amanda McClelland of Resolve to Save Life, a U.S. health policy initiative, said information about how serious the outbreak is and what resources are available to respond. If not, it will create risks when countries lift lockdowns, he said.
"It's been a big challenge for us to really understand the severity of the epidemic," he said. "Unclear data makes it very difficult to justify the economic impact of lockdowns in countries."
(Translation: Eacleren)
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