A new report from UN-Habitat and other international agencies underscores the conditions that amplify COVID-19 impacts in African cities, and offers six recommendations for local governments to respond effectively.
COVID-19, a global pandemic declared by the World Health Organization (WHO), is crippling the global economy and upending people’s lives thereby threatening sustainable development across all its dimensions. Africa is also facing the dire consequences of the crisis, necessitating timely responses, recovery and rebuilding policies and strategies. Globally, urban areas are the epicentres of the epidemic accounting for the vast majority of the confirmed COVID-19 cases. This report looks at the impacts, responses and policy pathways related to COVID-19 in the context of cities in Africa.
Africa is currently experiencing the most rapid urban growth in the world.
The urban population increased more than 10 times in six decades, from 53 million to 588 million during the period from 1960 to 2020. African cities are epidemiological foci of for COVID-19 like other urban areas globally. However, the quality and nature of Africa’s urbanization exacerbates transmission rates of infectious diseases like COVID-19 and makes containment and response measures considerably more difficult.
The COVID-19 risk factors are acute in African cities in part due to the largely unplanned and poorly managed urbanization process resulting in widespread informal settlements and severe infrastructure and service deficits. In 2019, about 47% of Africa’s urban population lived in slums or informal settlements, which translates into about 257 million people across the whole of Africa. Only 55% and 47% of Africa’s urban residents have access to basic sanitation services and hand washing facilities respectively.
Furthermore, most urban residents rely on the informal sector that employs 71% of Africans, making them highly vulnerable to loss of income and unable to abide by restrictions and lockdown measures. African cities often have high population densities coupled with overcrowded public transport and marketplaces making social distancing almost impossible. These factors combined make Africa’s cities hotbeds for COVID-19.
COVID-19 has registered adverse impacts in cities in multiple ways. With Africa having low ratios of health professionals and hospital beds and most of its stock of pharmaceuticals being imported, health systems are highly constrained in their response to COVID-19. Inhabitants of slums and informal settlements face heightened challenges in accessing healthcare services and products. From an economic perspective, urban based enterprises and sectors have undergone drastic reductions and closures especially SMEs which have a constrained ability to absorb shocks.
Widespread loss of employment income has been registered with informal sector workers being especially vulnerable. Other challenges include elevated risks of eviction and homelessness, food insecurity and information inequalities especially among women. As first responders in tacking the urban impacts of COVID-19, local authorities are key actors in taking measures to tackle the crisis, yet many face capacity constraints including a loss of up to 60% of their revenues.
To promptly and adequately address the challenges of COVID-19 pandemic in Africa at the urban scale and through local governments, six key responses are recommended for short, medium and long term interventions led by national and local governments with the support of the African Union, United Nations System and Regional Economic Communities (RECs):
