1 February 2022

Corona-egocentrism: maladaptive solutions only create problems in Africa

Victoria Falls is one of the biggest tourist attractions in southern Africa. When times are normal, about a million tourists come annually to see the waterfall, but during the pandemic here is empty of people.. Photo: Stig Jensen
Victoria Falls is one of the biggest tourist attractions in southern Africa. When times are normal, about a million tourists come annually to see the waterfall, but during the pandemic there are no people in sight. Photo: Stig Jensen 

Associate Professor Stig Jensen has written an opinion piece based on his experience at the front line of the COVID-19 Omicron closure in southern Africa in connection with fieldwork related travel in Zambia and Zimbabwe. In the opinion piece,  Jensen reflects on how the West’s corona efforts that largely takes Western values as their vantage point, have failed to yield results to problems in Africa. Regulatory initiatives and guidelines for action have created major problems on the continent, as illustrated by a large number of examples. The article is relevant both to understanding the corona crisis in Africa and more general to problematise how we support societies and people on the continent.

Read the article, in Danish here