Loss of livelihood and lack of food due to containment measures and quarantine orders threaten a large part of the country’s population and could kill more people than the COVID-19, warns this writer.
Coronavirus has started hitting Ethiopia, so it looks. It’s no fun to imagine what the disease could do here, having seen how Western nations with more developed and better-financed healthcare systems have faltered in. By now, only a few would cast doubts about the danger and ruthlessness of the disease.
Since the emergence of the virus in China, Ethiopia stayed alert, yet holding the hope that it was escaping the worst. But that early optimism was shattered when the number of cases jumped to 35 in less than three weeks, including six new cases reported on Friday. So far, most of those affected are those who came from abroad and the people who had contact with them. That said, all indications are that the country is in the early stages of the pandemic, as some call it incubation period, and these numbers will continue to rise. Hospitals and treatment centers are bracing for a wave of cases that could break an already fragile healthcare system. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said a few days ago said that the next two or three weeks will be a pivotal moment that determines the extent coronavirus’s impact could have in the country. Those weeks would also determine whether the country would enter into a complete lockdown or not. Under the circumstances, it is understandable the need to take drastic efforts to prevent its spread. The first country in sub-Saharan Africa to put lockdown measures, Rwanda has now extended it by two weeks, with Uganda and Kenya entering their own lockdowns last week.
And necessary though such kind of stringent methods might be, they should take into account the country’s context. The measures applied in western countries cannot be appropriate in a nation where people rely on daily earnings to survive. If the country follows suit of the complete lockdown restrictions introduced in those countries, the implications could be severe and counter-productive. How is it that people who work day-to-day could stay confined in their houses for fifteen days or a month? Hunger and starvation would kill people before any disease does.
The privileged people might stock their refrigerators, get groceries and foodstuff delivered to their doorsteps and could work from home. But the underprivileged, which represents the majority of the country, could not in any way afford those things. The choice would be, stay at home and practice strict social distancing measures, with a risk of going hungry or defy restrictions in search of food.
People with limited and inconsistent income, day laborers, the unemployed, the homeless are already feeling the brunt of the restrictions already put in place and the economic stagnation. For these groups, access to water, soap and hand sanitizer are constant sources of worries and severe concerns about food shortages during the lockdown could only lead them to desperate measures. Children could be particularly susceptible to malnutrition. About 50 % of the country’s people live below the poverty line, according to the latest data from the World Bank. Most of those people have neither social security nor unemployment benefits. Should the country enters into a full quarantine, these issues will need to be addressed. The alternative is that the country could well see millions of the most vulnerable sectors of society — those that the lockdown was supposed to protect — perish from starvation before coronavirus strike them.
Image: Street scene in slum area of Piazza, Addis Ababa. Photo by Arefaynie Fantahun.
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Like the article says, I believe it’s infected those with a travel history or those around them.
I have a few friends who don’t agree.
I don’t think starvation from a lockdown would cause more deaths than the virus. It could easily cause more DEVASTATION, but not deaths. Family, neighbors, kebele, government can help provide food to those in need.
(Also organizations)
I believe in quarantine and taking it serious from the beginning. But can you imagine if the U.S. tried to shut down the entire country if there were only 35 cases? It would be impossible.
Or even if there were 35 cases in the country but only 5 cases in NYC. They couldn’t shut down NY. (Or in this case Addis)
This article is unfortunately not up to standard to be published. Very disturbing title with zero substance. It is G Melaku’s feeling than any tangible facts or documented experience. It is a blind comparison of Ethiopia and the West. Are not majority Ethiopian food storage system grain/spice based? Are not majority Ethiopians producing their own foods or farmers? I don’t see the relevance of the argument as such. Rather the west may suffer if the pandemics last longer because import constitutes their food security.G Melaku’s message detracts people from Corona mitigation measures in Ethiopia. His warning message that emanates from western food system where ultra-processed foods with days/weeks of expiry dates have no relevance in Ethiopia. It is rather important to support grain and other food transport from rural areas to urban distribution/selling centers.
The writer does not seem to understand the situation on the ground. At a time when the disease is about to strike the country, many people don’t seem to realize how serious the situation is. This is what is happening. People are in denial. They are not listening to what is being said. They are being told to avoid gatherings day and night, but they continue to do so. Instead, they are clashing with the police. The country is on the brink of disaster. Abiy is coming every day on TV to talk about it with the beseeching tone but his messages are falling on deaf ears. So the message has to be to the people to act responsibly and remind the government to impose whatever is necessary to save lives.
Oui c’est bien ce que je pense, même en France. Les conséquences sociales (et même économiques) à long terme du confinement seront bien plus importantes que le bénéfice sanitaire à court terme.
Chinese and European practice shows that an effective lockdown of large sections of the population is the best way to prevent the spread of the virus, isolate those that have been affected and trace people who might be at risk. Ethiopia has no other alternative than that.
Every time I read a screed like this, my IQ drops. To began with, the author’s bizarre reading about this deadlier virus is astonishing. He is far removed from reality concerting the situation in Ethiopia in the face of this. Global outbreaks. Succinctly put, it is simply motivated by political driven agenda.
I cant agree more with the author. A lockdown would have a devastating impact on the country. The calls for a lockdown fail to take the economic reality of Ethiopia into account. There are millions of people who depend on a daily wage in the country, they are already facing a hard time, but a quarantine would only make matters worse for them.
Locking down people in Ethiopia might not work. It is not practical for informal workers who make up half of Ethiopia’s employed populations. A lot of them depend on the money they make every single day to put food on the table. But encouraging people to wear masks could help. It does not matter if it a proper surgical mask, anything done with a tissue would do. The experience of Asian countries with the strictest policies on wearing masks show that. They are reporting the lowest number of cases per capita. In China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea and Japan mask-wearing has become the norm, with some stores refusing entry to those without face covers.