Rwanda, Togo, Tunisia Credited for Successful COVID-19 Response

ADF STAFF

Rwanda, Togo and Tunisia stand out for their response to the COVID-19 outbreak, according to the Lowy Institute, an Australian think tank that researches international political, strategic and economic issues.

In a January report, the institute ranked countries’ responses to the pandemic based on per capita numbers of COVID-19 cases and deaths, the number of tests administered and the rate of positive tests.

The report, which covered 98 countries, including 20 in Africa, was issued as many areas were ravaged by a second wave of infections. It examined countries for 36 weeks after their 100th COVID-19 cases were confirmed, until January 9.

Rwanda placed sixth in the institute’s rankings, Togo 15th and Tunisia 21st, each earning “good” ratings in the report. Earning “average” scores were Côte d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Senegal, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe, as noted by The Africa Report.

Most countries used the same measures to contain the virus, such as stay-at-home orders, lockdowns and border closures, but a country’s success was determined, in part, on how effectively its government persuaded residents to adhere to those measures. The “low-tech” nature of the preventive measures may have benefited developing countries, the report found.

Countries with populations of fewer than 10 million people consistently outperformed larger countries throughout 2020, although larger countries were responding better by the end of the year. The report also found that governments under democratic rule performed marginally better than those run by other systems.

Even with Africa’s highest population density, Rwanda’s response to COVID-19 earned global praise almost from the start. The World Health Organization lauded the country’s multifaceted response through medical innovations, imaginative technology use in treating patients and informing the public, and its government’s proactive response.

One key to Rwanda’s success was that its people embraced the safety measures, Agnes Binagwaho, former Rwandan health minister and now a vice chancellor at the University of Global Health Equity, told The BMJ, a peer-reviewed medical journal.

“The people must know that the public health measures being taken are in their interest,” Binagwaho said. “So when the government closes the borders and sends everyone home — when it deploys health workers to people’s homes, robots to their treatment centers and drones to their skies (as it has done) — the people must know these actions are not against them, but for them. That’s the only way they’ll comply with the guidance; enforcement gets you only so far.”

Tunisia also reacted quickly to the outbreak, imposing a general lockdown after 75 cases were confirmed, quickly closing borders and schools, and implementing a nightly curfew and contact tracing.

Tunisia had the second-lowest COVID-19 fatality rate in the Middle East and North Africa region between March and September 2020, according to the Brookings Institution, but by February 2021, its hospitals were struggling to treat the most severely ill patients.

Dr. Amira Jamoussi of the Abderrahmen Memmi Hospital in Ariana, told africanews.com in February 2021 that critical care beds were given to the patients most likely to survive.

“At first, this was not something that was welcomed with open arms; some colleagues, sometimes, did not understand,” Jamoussi said. “It’s true that everyone has the right to live, but a resuscitation place is very, very precious, and we find ourselves in the situation where we choose between the patients.”

Besides quickly closing borders, imposing a lockdown and banning large gatherings, Togo’s government established a nearly $3.7 million fund to battle COVID-19 after the first case was confirmed there in March 2020.

Those measures likely helped Togo earn a good rating by the Lowy Institute, but the country experienced its highest number of weekly cases during the second wave. That could be particularly dangerous as the country had far fewer health resources than many others when the pandemic began, according to the Africa Center for Strategic Studies.