海角大神

At a lecture to peers this month, John Nkengasong showed images that once dogged Africa, with a magazine cover declaring it 鈥淭he Hopeless Continent.鈥� Then he quoted Ghana鈥檚 first president, Kwame Nkrumah: 鈥淚t is clear that we must find an African solution to our problems, and that this can only be found in African unity.鈥�

The coronavirus pandemic has fractured global relationships. But as director of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Mr. Nkengasong has helped to steer Africa鈥檚 54 countries into an alliance praised as responding better than some richer countries, including the United States.

A former U.S. CDC official, he modeled Africa鈥檚 version after his ex-employer. Mr. Nkengasong is pained to see the U.S. agency struggle. In an interview with The Associated Press, he didn鈥檛 name U.S President Donald Trump but cited 鈥渇actors we all know.鈥�

While the U.S. nears 200,000 COVID-19 deaths and the world approaches 1 million, Africa鈥檚 surge has been leveling off. Its 1.4 million confirmed cases are far from the horrors predicted. Antibody testing is expected to show many more infections, but most cases are asymptomatic. Just over 34,000 deaths are confirmed on the continent of 1.3 billion people.

鈥淎frica is doing a lot of things right the rest of the world isn鈥檛,鈥� said Gayle Smith, a former administrator with the U.S. Agency for International Development. She鈥檚 watched in astonishment as Washington looks inward instead of leading the world. But Africa 鈥渋s a great story and one that needs to be told.鈥�

Mr. Nkengasong, whom the Gates Foundation is set to honor Tuesday with its Global Goalkeeper Award as a 鈥渞elentless proponent of global collaboration,鈥� is the continent鈥檚 most visible narrator. The Cameroon-born virologist insists that Africa can stand up to COVID-19 if given a fighting chance.

Early modeling assumed 鈥渁 large number of Africans would just die,鈥� Mr. Nkengasong said. The Africa CDC decided not to issue projections. 鈥淲hen I looked at the data and the assumptions, I wasn鈥檛 convinced,鈥� he said.

Health experts point to Africa鈥檚 youthful population as a factor in why COVID-19 hasn鈥檛 taken a larger toll, along with swift lockdowns and the later arrival of the virus.

鈥淏e patient,鈥� Mr. Nkengasong said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot we still don鈥檛 know.鈥�

He warns against complacency, saying a single case can spark a new surge.

As Africa鈥檚 top public health official, leading an agency launched only three years ago, he plunged into the race for medical supplies and now a vaccine. At first, it was a shock.

鈥淭he collapse of global cooperation and a failure of international solidarity have shoved Africa out of the diagnostics market,鈥� Mr. Nkengasong wrote in the journal Nature in April. 鈥淚f Africa loses, the world loses.鈥�

Supplies slowly improved, and African countries have conducted 13 million tests, enough to cover 1% of the continent鈥檚 population. But the ideal is 13 million tests per month, Mr. Nkengasong said.

He and other African leaders are haunted by the memories of 12 million Africans dying during the decade it took for affordable HIV drugs to reach the continent. That must not happen again, he said.

This week, more world leaders than ever are gathering online for the biggest global endeavor since COVID-19 appeared, at the United Nations General Assembly. If Mr. Nkengasong could address them, he would say this: 鈥淲e should be very careful that history doesn鈥檛 record us on the wrong side of it.鈥�

African leaders are expected to say much the same. 鈥淭he COVID-19 pandemic has shown we have no option but to depend on each other,鈥� Ghana鈥檚 president, Nana Akufo-Addo, told the gathering on Monday.

Mr. Nkengasong urges African countries not to wait for help and rejects the image of the continent holding a begging bowl. The money is there, he said.

Acting on that idea, Africa鈥檚 public and private sectors created an online purchasing platform to focus their negotiating power, launched by the African Union to buy directly from manufacturers. Governments can browse and buy rapid testing kits, N95 masks, and ventilators, some now manufactured in Africa in another campaign endorsed by heads of state.

Impressed, Caribbean countries have signed on.

鈥淚t鈥檚 the only part of the world I鈥檓 aware of that actually built a supply chain,鈥� said Ms. Smith, the former USAID chief.

When the pandemic began, just two African countries could test for the coronavirus. Now all can. Mr. Nkengasong was struck by how much information 鈥渄oesn鈥檛 get translated鈥� to member states, so the Africa CDC holds online trainings on everything from safely handling bodies to genomic surveillance.

鈥淚 look at Africa and I look at the U.S., and I鈥檓 more optimistic about Africa, to be honest, because of the leadership there, and doing their best despite limited resources,鈥� said Sema Sgaier, director of the Surgo Foundation, which produced a COVID-19 vulnerability index for each region. She spoke even as Africa鈥檚 cases were surging weeks ago.

With COVID-19 vaccines the next urgent issue, African countries held a conference to insist on equitable access and explore manufacturing to end their almost complete reliance on the outside world. They began securing the late-stage clinical trials that long have been held outside the continent, aiming to land 10 as soon as possible.

Mr. Nkengasong said Africa needs at least 1.5 billion vaccine doses, enough to cover 60% of the population for 鈥渉erd immunity鈥� with the two likely required doses. That will cost about $10 billion.

The World Health Organization says Africa should receive at least 220 million doses through an international effort to develop and distribute a vaccine known as COVAX.

That鈥檚 welcome but not enough, Mr. Nkengasong said.

His next hurdle is how to deliver doses throughout the vast continent with the world鈥檚 worst infrastructure. Less than half of Africa鈥檚 countries have access to modern health care facilities, he said.

COVID-19鈥檚 effects are 鈥渄evastating鈥� for Africa, from education to economies to the fight against other diseases. Mr. Nkengasong plans a major conference next year to press countries to significantly increase health spending ahead of the next pandemic.

鈥淚f we do not,鈥� he said, 鈥渟omething is terribly wrong with us.鈥�

This story was reported by The Associated Press.

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