Africa, the African Diaspora, and COVID-19: Some Resources

COVID-19

As we know, the entire world is currently under assault by this deadly disease, with efforts to combat it often hampered by incompetent political leaders. Existing data suggest African-descended populations in the Americas and Europe are being disproportionately impacted, while we monitor with great anxiety the growth and rate of the disease in Africa itself.

What follows are a series of reports, largely in newspapers and periodicals, and the resulting composite picture is sobering.

By no means does what follows evenly represent the various components of either Africa or the African Diaspora, but nonetheless are offered with a view to providing some sense of what is transpiring before us. They are organized according to the most date of publication, and we apologize that many are not in English.

CSAAD hopes to serve as a mechanism through which we might transition from the present calamity into a better future.

GENERAL RESOURCES

 – The Johns Hopkins University of Medicine’s Coronavirus Resources Center is widely used as the main resource for monitoring COVID-19’s global spread and behavior

https://coronavirus.jhu.edu

– STAT features discussions of health, medicine, and scientific discovery relating to the coronavirus

https://www.statnews.com         

The African Union’s publications and analyses

https://au.int/en/covid19

– CARICOM (The Caribbean Community) monitors developments in the Caribbean

https://caricom.org

–  PAHO (Pan American Health Organization) monitors developments in the Caribbean and Latin America (via Miami Herald)

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/haiti/article241249651.html

– AS/COS (The Americas Society’s Council of the Americas) monitors developments in Latin America

https://www.as-coa.org/articles/where-coronavirus-latin-america

– Coronavirus rates in US

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-us-cases.html?action=click&module=Spotlight&pgtype=Homepage

 

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/05/05/us/coronavirus-death-toll-us.html?action=click&module=Spotlight&pgtype=Homepage

– Coronavirus rates in Brazil (Rice University)

https://coronavirusnobrasil.org/

 

AFRICA

– Following the disease in Africa (7 May 2020)

https://www.jeuneafrique.com/910230/societe/coronavirus-en-afrique-une-carte-pour-suivre-au-jour-le-jour-lavancee-de-lepidemie/

– In Senegal, the challenge of counterfeit medications (6 May 2020)

https://www.lemonde.fr/afrique/article/2020/05/06/au-senegal-les-faux-medicaments-contre-le-coronavirus-en-rupture-de-stock_6038887_3212.html

– The decline of transmittances and Mali (30 April 2020)

https://www.lemonde.fr/afrique/article/2020/04/30/au-mali-l-effondrement-des-transferts-d-argent-de-la-diaspora-fragilise-gravement-les-populations_6038309_3212.html

– How media coverage of the virus renders invisible ongoing hazards of African (specifically Guinean) emigration (28 April 2020)

https://www.lemonde.fr/afrique/article/2020/04/28/en-guinee-la-solitude-des-familles-de-migrants-disparus-en-mer-et-oublies-des-medias_6038049_3212.html

– A call to improve African health systems, post-COVID-19 (22 April 2020)

https://www.lemonde.fr/afrique/article/2020/04/22/l-apres-covid-19-pourrait-il-etre-enfin-l-ere-de-la-justice-fiscale-et-sociale-dans-le-monde_6037419_3212.html

– How the virus has revealed technological chasms between Africa and the rest of the world (20 April 2020)

https://www.lemonde.fr/afrique/article/2020/04/20/makhtar-diop-la-crise-du-coronavirus-revele-cruellement-l-inegale-repartition-des-bienfaits-de-la-technologie_6037181_3212.html

– An open letter from intellectuals to African governmental leaders (17 April 2020)

https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/open-letter-african-intellectuals-leaders-covid-19-200417140154396.html

– Canceling Africa’s debt, including China (15 April 2020)

https://www.lemonde.fr/idees/article/2020/04/15/la-chine-elle-aussi-doit-annuler-des-dettes-africaines_6036655_3232.html

– Heavy-handed states and repression of human rights in a pandemic context (13 April 2020)

https://www.lemonde.fr/afrique/article/2020/04/13/coronavirus-en-afrique-des-mesures-d-exception-qui-menacent-les-libertes-publiques_6036443_3212.html

– The dilemma of mourning for and burying the African-born, outside of Africa (13 April 2020)

https://www.lemonde.fr/afrique/article/2020/04/13/coronavirus-les-africains-de-france-ne-savent-plus-ou-enterrer-leurs-morts_6036472_3212.html

– The impact on African migration (13 April 2020)

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/13/world/middleeast/persian-gulf-migrants-coronavirus.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage

– Coronavirus and Tanzania (10 April 2020)

https://africasacountry.com/2020/04/the-devil-coronavirus

– Ventilators in Africa (10 April 2020)

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/04/why-covid-might-hit-african-nations-hardest/609760/

– Returning half a billion people to poverty (9 April 2020)

https://www.bbc.com/portuguese/internacional-52235230

– Developing countries are disadvantaged in the scramble for medical supplies (9 April 2020)

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/09/world/coronavirus-equipment-rich-poor.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage

– Africa and Latin America as prime targets for the virus (20 March 2020)

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/africa-latin-america-fragile-targets-for-coronavirus-spread

– Big Pharma and Africa (June 2005)

https://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/2005/06/CHIPPAUX/12513 

THE AFRICAN DIASPORA

– In UK, black people four times more likely to die from COVID-19 (7 May 2020)

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/07/black-people-four-times-more-likely-to-die-from-covid-19-ons-finds

https://veja.abril.com.br/mundo/negros-tem-4-vezes-mais-chances-de-morrer-de-covid-19-no-reino-unido/

– In US, disproportionately black counties overrepresented in coronavirus cases (7 May 2020)

 https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/05/06/study-finds-that-disproportionately-black-counties-account-more-than-half-covid-19-cases-us-nearly-60-percent-deaths/

– In Colombia, social leaders (many of whom are African-descended) continue to be assassinated at alarming rate during the pandemic (7 May 2020)

https://www.eltiempo.com/justicia/delitos/indepaz-94-lideres-asesinados-en-los-cuatro-primeros-meses-del-ano-492776

– Situation in Brazil (1 May 2020)

https://www.bbc.com/portuguese/brasil-52509734

– Costa Rica appears to be faring better than many (1 May 2020)

https://www.bbc.com/portuguese/geral-52496815

– Racial disparities in US (29 April 2020)

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/29/magazine/racial-disparities-covid-19.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage

– Inadequate testing in Brazil (24 April 2020)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/coronavirus-brazil-testing-bolsonaro-cemetery-gravedigger/2020/04/22/fe757ee4-83cc-11ea-878a-86477a724bdb_story.html

– The virus is impoverishing many in Latin America (22 April 2020)

https://www.bbc.com/portuguese/brasil-52378936

– The current crisis in comparison with building the Panama Canal (20 April 2020)

https://www.aaihs.org/black-deaths-and-black-mourning-in-the-time-of-coronavirus/

– Coronavirus and inequality in Brazil (20 April 2020)

https://www.bbc.com/portuguese/brasil-52329579

– Chocó (Colombia) and the crisis (19 April 2020)

https://www.eltiempo.com/colombia/otras-ciudades/coronavirus-en-colombia-crisis-en-choco-por-enfermeras-contagiadas-de-covid-19-486128

– Los Angeles gangs intervening in the crisis (19 April 2020)

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-04-19/coronavirus-gang-intervention-workers

– Africans facing xenophobia in China (16 April 2020)

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/16/world/asia/coronavirus-china-nationalism.html

– Rich and poor in Latin America (10 April 2020)

https://yourvalley.net/stories/coronavirus-hits-rich-and-poor-unequally-in-latin-america,150202

– Webinar on the impact in the Caribbean (10 April 2020)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykm7ShppvUM

– COVID-19 in the Caribbean (10 April 2020)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pF143cAdkeU

– Economic impact on the Caribbean (10 April 2020)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1PqfdpXnq4

– The virus and inequality in Latin America (19 April 2020)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjwDn1cxI8Y

– The Indigenous in Nicaragua (9 April 2020)

https://www.voanoticias.com/centroamerica/nicaragua-pueblos-indigenas-vulnerables-ante-coronavirus

– Coronavirus and African Americans (1-3 April 2020)

https://slate.com/technology/2020/04/coronavirus-covid19-black-americans-impact.html

https://www.propublica.org/article/early-data-shows-african-americans-have-contracted-and-died-of-coronavirus-at-an-alarming-rate

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/07/us/coronavirus-race.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage

https://www.metrotimes.com/news-hits/archives/2020/04/02/black-people-make-up-12-of-michigans-population-and-at-least-40-of-its-coronavirus-deaths

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/04/stop-looking-away-race-covid-19-victims/609250/

– Declaration of Indigenous and African-descended groups in Latin America (2 April 2020)

https://www.anred.org/2020/04/02/coronavirus-declaracion-de-pueblos-originarios-afrodescendientes-y-organizaciones-populares-de-america-latina/

– Investigating the effect of coronavirus on blacks in Italy (2 April 2020)

https://www.elmundo.cr/mundo/cientificos-italianos-investigan-por-que-el-coronavirus-apenas-infecta-a-la-etnia-negra/

– COVID-19 and the incarcerated (27 March 2020)

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/03/coronavirus-fears-spark-prison-unrest-worldwide.html