South Africa leads the continent when it comes to genomic sequencing. And while other African countries work to strengthen their diagnostic networks, poorly conceived travel bans could send a counterproductive message.
In June 2020, a group of laboratories, scientists, and academic institutions in South Africa joined forces to launch the Network for Genomic Surveillance in South Africa, or NGS-SA, which now serves as a centerpiece of the country’s efforts to track and share data about COVID-19. NGS-SA is also part of the broader World Health Organization and Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention-led Africa Pathogen Genomics Initiative, which works to connect the continent’s genomic sequencing laboratories.
This is a preview of Newswire
Sign up to this newsletter for an inside look at the biggest stories in global development, in your inbox daily.
Paul Adepoju reports that one reason South African scientists were able to identify the omicron variant quickly is that scientists in Botswana reported the same genomic sequence at almost exactly the same time.
“It was thanks to Botswana that we knew that the sequences actually mean something and that it wasn't an error and that we needed to investigate this quickly and to work together with other partners both regionally in the continent, and then work globally,” says Anne von Gottberg of the National Institute for Communicable Diseases in South Africa.
The reaction to South Africa’s success in spotting the variant and sharing information about it with the rest of the world, however, reflected significantly less solidarity. The Biden administration imposed controversial travel bans on arrivals from eight nations in southern Africa, some of which had not even recorded cases of the new variant.
Those kinds of restrictions can send the counterproductive message to countries that performing genetic sequencing and reporting new variants could get them punished, when in fact global health leaders say the message should be that every country should strive for South Africa’s timeliness and transparency.
“If everyone around the world was doing that, we would be in a very good place. I mean, very, very good place,” says Dr. John Nkengasong, director of the Africa CDC.
Read: Why South Africa keeps detecting COVID-19 variants like omicron
In other news, the Mo Ibrahim Foundation released a new report Monday on Africa’s challenges when it comes to battling COVID-19. Sara Jerving delves into the numbers:
• More than half of the births on the continent — as well as 90% of deaths — still go unregistered, which means casualty counts could be skewed and many could be left out of vaccination drives.
• Only 10 of the 54 countries studied by the report provide citizens with free, universal health coverage.
• Only five African countries are expected to hit the year-end global target of vaccinating 40% of their populations.
+ For more on COVID-19, and vaccine equity and rollout, sign up for Devex CheckUp, the must-read weekly newsletter for exclusive global health news and insider insights, and receive the latest edition on Thursday.
Strength in numbers
Some of the world’s largest foundations have banded together to push international financial institutions and high-income nations to deliver on their commitments to sharing COVID-19 vaccines and supporting more global manufacturing.
Leaders of the Global Alliance of Foundations, which launched in October, met with International Monetary Fund chief Kristalina Georgieva last week to advance “mutual priorities on COVID-19 response and wider economic recovery,” my colleague Stephanie Beasley reports. Those include the reallocation of IMF Special Drawing Rights to low- and middle-income countries.
Read: Global coalition of foundations pushes IMF, G-7 on vaccine equity
ICYMI: IMF approves $650B Special Drawing Rights allocation
Follow the money
U.S.-based global development firm DAI is growing its development finance operations with the acquisition of MicroVest, a B Corporation that invests in “underbanked” enterprises in emerging markets, David Ainsworth reports.
The move is partly a response to development donors’ increasing efforts “to co-opt private finance to work more and more in concert with their development aims,” says Joshua Moraczewski, principal at DAI Capital.
Devex Pro: DAI acquires asset management company MicroVest
+ Not a Pro subscriber yet? Sign up now to start your 15-day free trial and get access to deeper analysis of the development sector, exclusive digital events, and the world’s largest global development job board.
Dead end?
Last week, Devex U.K. Correspondent Will Worley hosted a conversation about whether the aid cuts and policy changes that have dominated U.K. aid headlines for the last year spell the end of its role as a global development leader.
Devex Pro subscribers who missed the live event can access the recording.
Catch up on all our coverage on U.K. aid and see our timeline of the U.K.’s foreign aid cuts. Pro subscribers can also learn how CDC Group’s overhaul signals a big shift in the United Kingdom’s development strategy.
Watch: The end of UK aid?
Opportunity costs
“Africa’s climate tech startups operate in particularly challenging contexts that drive up production costs and undermine competitiveness.”
— Olamide Oguntoye, policy lead, Tony Blair Institute for Global Change’s science and innovation unit
In this Devex op-ed, Oguntoye writes that climate technology is a “multitrillion-dollar opportunity” — but one that did not find a clear road map in the commitments made at COP 26 in Glasgow.
Opinion: What's next for climate tech in Africa after COP 26?
In other news
Myanmar’s former leader Aung San Suu Kyi — under house arrest since February’s military coup — has been sentenced to four years in prison for “inciting dissent” and breaking COVID-19 regulations. [BBC]
Stormy weather halts search-and-rescue efforts in Indonesia, following the Semeru volcano eruption that killed at least 15 people and injured dozens of others. [Reuters]
Two explosions on Sunday rocked United Nations camps in Gao, a city in northern Mali, causing damage but no casualties. [VOA]
Sign up to Newswire for an inside look at the biggest stories in global development.
About the author
Michael Igoe@AlterIgoe
Michael Igoe is a Senior Reporter with Devex, based in Washington, D.C. He covers U.S. foreign aid, global health, climate change, and development finance. Prior to joining Devex, Michael researched water management and climate change adaptation in post-Soviet Central Asia, where he also wrote for EurasiaNet. Michael earned his bachelor's degree from Bowdoin College, where he majored in Russian, and his master’s degree from the University of Montana, where he studied international conservation and development.
Search for articles
Most Read
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5