Prominent people lost their lives including renowned doctors who tried their best to subdue the toxic effects of the virus.
We might be witnessing the end of the Covid-19 pandemic after its advent at the end of 2019 in China and eventually being declared a national disaster in Zimbabwe in March 2020.
More than 6,3 million people succumbed to the virus globally with Africa losing about 240 000 people.
Prominent people lost their lives including renowned doctors who tried their best to subdue the toxic effects of the virus.
Today, there is concern about the monkey pox virus which is now affecting more than 21 countries.
Although monkey pox has been endemic in many African countries, it raises alarm today as it comes as an outbreak which can threaten many borders in the world. The United Kingdom had its index case on the 6th of May after its citizen had returned from Nigeria on 4 May.
Since then, Europe has been witnessing an outbreak of the monkey pox with countries like Germany, Italy, Belgium, Portugal, Netherlands, Sweden and France recording cases. The United States of America and Canada have recorded cases and fear and chills are now gripping the globe.
Outbreaks come and go, but they have capacity to leave a trail of destruction. Many lives are lost, the economy becomes battered while social life is annihilated.
Public health measures put in place are a thorn in the flesh for many people. Life can be upside down for many people.
However, there are some lessons that we get from such outbreaks that can shape health service delivery in any country.
The health sector in Zimbabwe has been marred by incessant strikes, poor infrastructure, shortage of equipment and resources, understaffing, untenable laws and regulations, low investment drive, maladministration and general poor financing.
The consequences are very clear: poor health service delivery which cannot withstand outbreaks or other medical emergencies. For real, Covid-19 has taught us great lessons and correcting some of the mistakes will significantly improve our health service delivery.
Africa demonstrated to the world that it is a solid continent that can fend off any outbreaks and can even perform better than many of the developed nations.
Peru lost around 213 000 people from Covid-19, slightly less than 254 000 people who succumbed to Covid-19 from Africa as a continent.
Covid-19 brought some positives which include the following:
Let all the health stakeholders learn from Covid-19 attack and rectify where possible. The world remains under threat from outbreaks especially Coronaviruses. We are proud that Africa managed Covid-19 better than what was expected. Together we will defend our countries!
