Name: Africans should lead on health care solutions for Africa
Uploaded: 2021-12-08T21:18:34Z
Duration: 5 min 2 s
Description: TED Fellow and global health researcher Francisca Mutapi discusses how COVID-19 responses borrowed from the West created significant obstacles for other public health programs in Africa -- and makes the case for the continent to chart out its own health care policies. "The solutions to Africa's health problems must be home-grown and must be led by Africans," she says.

Francisca Mutapi: Africans should lead on health care solutions for Africa

Africans should lead on health care solutions for Africa

TED Fellow and global health researcher Francisca Mutapi discusses how COVID-19 responses borrowed from the West created significant obstacles for other public health programs in Africa -- and makes the case for the continent to chart out its own health care policies. "The solutions to Africa's health problems must be home-grown and must be led by Africans," she says.

Imported pandemic responses often failed to fit Africa’s context, sometimes causing more harm than help. Early predictions of massive COVID-19 mortality on the continent proved wrong, as Africa’s death rate was far below that of Western Europe and North America. Lockdowns disrupted critical services like childhood vaccinations, with devastating long-term effects. Local strategies that drew on community strengths, such as Sierra Leone’s targeted lockdowns, protected health and the economy more effectively.