By Uko Hanson
The idea that Africans should be used as Guinea pigs to test COVID-19 vaccines is not only barbaric, but an attempt to re-awaken racism that was long thought to be gone.
Social media have been awash with Africans slamming two French medics who made the illicit comments.
Jean-Paul Mira, head of the intensive care unit at Cochin Hospital in Paris, made the comment as part of a debate on French news channel LCI. He was supported by Camille Locht, research director at the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research.
His words: “If I was a bit provocative, should we not do this study in Africa where there are no masks, treatment, or intensive care system, a little bit like it’s done, by the way, for certain AIDS studies, or with prostitutes.”
Mira, added: “we try things because we know that they are highly exposed and they don’t protect themselves.”
Unfortunately, the comments which has triggered public resentment, brings to our very eyes a display of how corrupt leaderships and bad governance have damaged the narrative of the African identity until today. Though saddening, truth be told. We can argue whatever we can to defend our humanity, but, we cannot totally discard the truth that comes with the comment: we don’t have nor produce masks, we do not have intensive care units. Our government and leaders have exposed us to untold hardship, poverty and dangers. We are not protected in our land. These and many others are truths we can’t deny and they form the basis of their opinion. If anybody is to debate and contradict these comments, it should be our leaders who should front the debate to prove them wrong.
The recent global pandemic that has swept the universe off balance within a short span, as pathetic as it seem, comes with great lessons to African leaders and our politics.
Coronavirus which was discovered in China’s Wuhan December 2019, was on February 11 named COVID-19, after it was earlier declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, by World Health Organization (WHO) in January 2020. Following the widespread of the virus, WHO, on March 11, declared the virus a global pandemic.
Due to the damage the disease had caused the developed economies and their healthcare systems, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the Ethiopian director-general had warned on the risk of COVID-19 spreading to poor nations with weaker healthcare system, including the sub-Saharan countries. He noted in his advice that it was time for the continent to wake up to the increasing threat and be prepared for the worst.
The continent is well known for its legendary status of bad governance by successive leaderships in various states. This as a result, has left nations in its confine wallowing in penury, lack of basic amenities, poor and overstretched infrastructure. A warning to prepare for the worst in times of global crisis seemed best advice. More worrisome, the overcrowded urban areas, poor facilities, sanitation and the proliferation of informal economy poses a major challenge to the fight against such disease as COVID-19.
From imposing travel bans to prohibiting mass gatherings and shutting down schools, governments across Africa took steps to adopt sweeping measures in a bid to curb the spread. Foreign nations had issued travel ban and visa restrictions to other countries as measures to curtail spread. For the records, African leaders have all been stocked in their countries to face the challenge they’ve long been exposing their people to. We’ve been caged together in the defiled and disorganized system.
As of April 3, fifty African countries had recorded cases numbering 7,933, with 702 recoveries and 334 deaths, according to the Africa Centre for Disease Control. South Africa topped the infection rate with 1,505 followed by Algeria and Egypt at 1,171 and 985 respectively. Nigeria’s record stood at 210 ranking 9th most infected nation in the continent.
This critical time in the world’s history has left every nation, leaders and experts at a point where they need to fight their own battles and save their people, rather than travel abroad to seek personal and family solutions, leaving the masses to perish. It has tend the focus of leaders on the need to build robust and reliable systems where it can trust; be it healthcare or manufacturing industries. It has also proven that Africa has the medical experts with world-class technicalities, able to manage it’s healthcare system even with the very little.
Also, the medical crisis which had made its way to first targeting the elites and high profile individuals, the political class and wealthy citizens, have paved way for our leaders to clearly distinguish between playing politics with human lives and offering good governance and building structures that works.
The principle of testing any kind of vaccine on the African continent is not resonating with COVID-19, from the comment, it had prefaced during an attempt to test AIDS vaccines. Here too, is an untold story.
African leaders could learn governance from the comments of two from medical experts, rather than engage in attacking the sad truth. For decades, our leaders have subjected the masses to hardship and untold suffering. The decayed healthcare system had never been in their agenda to quickly revamp as they take chunk of our resources to travel to the French, Indian, American and European hospitals for medical checkups. If those medical experts have come out openly to say that we don’t have intensive care nor treatment, it is very likely that our leaders do go abroad for as little as malaria treatment.
While we struggle to bear the continental insult from two French medics, it is time for the leaders to sit back and build a continental identity to change the poor narratives held about us. There’s need to invest more in our healthcare system and improve the welfare of our health workers. If need be, countries like our dear nation, Nigeria, should work on creating manufacturing firms to produce most of the medical products like the face mask, shield, and other essential kits that can be relevant in times like this. If the world must stop taking us as animals, our leaders have a big role to play in making our nation and Africa at large convenient enough for her citizens.
Caveat: The Boss Newspapers is not liable for opinions expressed by the writer, as well as source of the content
