Perspective: Africa in the Path of COVID-19

In a New England Journal of Medicine “Perspective” article, Wafaa El-Sadr, MD, MPH, global director of ICAP at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, and Jessica Justman, MD, ICAP’s senior technical director and associate professor of epidemiology, urge a coordinated global effort in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, with “countries around the world [taking] concrete steps to assist Africa in staying ahead of the curve, even as they confront their own epidemics.”

The authors conclude: “When HIV spread like wildfire across the African continent, it took decades for the world to mobilize a response. Epidemics know no borders, and success in controlling the epidemic in any one country will be limited if epidemics continue to rage elsewhere. Today, we have the chance to avoid a repeat of history. Africans are doing their part. Now is the time for us to do ours.”