COVID-19 poses significant challenges to an already strained rural context in Africa. The growing direct impact of COVID-19 is affecting health, in terms of morbidity and mortality, as well as quickly overburdening health care services with negative repercussions for non-COVID related health problems. But even before COVID-19 had spread in Africa, the socio economic impact was felt. The sharp decline in demand and production from the most economically developed countries where contagion had initially hit hardest – China, European Union and the United States of America – has caused a global recession, with direct repercussions in Africa. With the spread of the virus across the continent, containment measures including social distancing, closing of schools, the prohibition of gatherings, closure or limitations on non-essential businesses and economic activities, and border closures may have devastating consequences.

These impacts further exacerbate a situation of increasing rates of hunger and poverty, as well as challenges affecting rural areas, including the desert locust outbreak, fall army warm impacts, early droughts, conflict and insecurity. The disruption of traditional transhumance patterns and the creation of new ones may lead to tensions and local displacement, and increased levels of poverty and food insecurity.

Despite these challenges, the region has also made important progress in terms of prioritizing social protection as a core component of poverty reduction and rural development strategies, including in the context of the Malabo Declaration and Agenda 2063. This is a critical moment to scale up these efforts to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, and support longer-term recovery for vulnerable populations.

See the full list of policy briefs related to COVID-19.