A SUGGESTION that Africa could be used as a “testing ground” for a vaccine against the coronavirus has been condemned as a racist hangover from colonialism by the World Health Organization (WHO).
The WHO’s director-general, Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus, said that the remarks by two French doctors were a “disgrace, appalling, to hear during the 21st century, to hear from scientists, that kind of remark”.
As the number of confirmed cases on the continent continue to rise, and countries impose tighter restriction and lockdowns, charities and NGOs are urging governments to keep aid supply-lines open to at-risk communities, including camps full of internally displaced people.
The charity Open Doors has highlighted the plight of the Pygmy people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), many of whom fled their homes in the rainforest after persecution by Islamist rebels and are now living in camps, where they are extremely vulnerable to the virus.
The DRC has only just been declared clear of the Ebola virus, and there is still some infrastructure in place from the outbreak, including temperature-testing stations; yet there also very few doctors and even fewer ventilators in the country.
The CEO of Open Doors, Henrietta Blyth, said: “Life is difficult right across the world right now. However, for the displaced and refugees, like the Pygmies of DRC, this pandemic is potentially catastrophic.”
The WHO has also said that it is concerned about the impact that coronavirus is having on getting humanitarian aid into parts of Africa, including the Sahel region, where more than five million people are at risk of starvation.
Supply of nutrition products in aid deliveries has also been hit by the virus, as many of the factories that produce the products are based in India and France, and either have closed entirely or have severely reduced their production. The World Food Programme’s regional director for West Africa, Chris Nikoi, said: “This is a crisis layered on top of a crisis, and the situation risks getting out of hand. “People are on the brink. We must step up now to save lives: we are the only hope for millions.”
Aid agencies and the UN are also working to combat misinformation about the virus across Africa, fears that were exacerbated by the comments about testing a vaccine in Africa. These fears have led to attacks on newly built coronavirus testing centres. A video showed people in the Ivory Coast tearing apart a centre with their bare hands.
Similar attacks occurred during the Ebola-virus outbreak in West and Central Africa, when communities attacked health workers who, they feared, were bringing their disease into the region rather than working to combat it.