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Editorial
. 2020 Sep 24;30(4):693-694.
doi: 10.18865/ed.30.4.693. eCollection 2020 Fall.

Sub-Saharan Africa Tackles COVID-19: Challenges and Opportunities

Kenechukwu Mezue  1 , Paul Edwards  2 , Ifeanyi Nsofor  3 , Ahmed Goha  4 , Ike Anya  3 , Kristofer Madu  5 , Dainia Baugh  2 , Felix Nunura  2 , Glen Gaulton  6 , Ernest Madu  2
Affiliations
Editorial

Sub-Saharan Africa Tackles COVID-19: Challenges and Opportunities

Kenechukwu Mezue et al. Ethn Dis. .

Abstract

As of May 2020, the global COVID-19 pandemic had reached 187 countries with more than 3.7 million confirmed cases and 263,000 deaths. While sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has not been spared, the extent of disease is currently far less than in Europe or North America leading some to posit that climatic, genetic or other conditions will self-limit disease in this location. Nonetheless, infections in tropical Africa continue to rise at an alarming pace with the potential to soon exceed health resource availability and to exhaust a health care workforce that is already grossly under supported and ill-equipped. This perspective outlines the context of COVID-19 disease in Africa with a focus on the distinctive challenges faced by African nations and a potential best path forward.

Keywords: COVID-19; Global Pandemic; Public Health; Sub-Saharan Africa.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: None declared.

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