When the first cases of the novel Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) landed on the shores of the African continent in the spring of 2020, experts predicted a major catastrophe.
That doom’s day never occurred. On the contrary, Africa has continued to report low cases and deaths of COVID-19 compared to the rest of the world. By 30 September 2020, WHO reported a cumulative 33.5 million confirmed COVID-19 cases including over a million deaths globally. Africa accounted for 1.4 million confirmed cases and 35,000 deaths cumulatively. It is also worth noting that over the same period, Africa had recorded 1.2 million cumulative recoveries.
That being said, Africa is not out of the woods yet and must remain vigilant because no country is safe until the virus is defeated.
In spite of the global challenge, the pandemic has created opportunities for young people in parts of Africa to innovate and find local solutions. Young Africans have risen to the challenge in diverse ways, from combatting the spread of misinformation in their communities to conducting handwashing awareness campaigns. They have generated ideas and led actions, hosted discussions and disseminated information through social media and public awareness campaigns, saving countless lives.
Solar-powered handwashing basin
In March 2020, as the government of Ghana announced a two-week lockdown to control the spread of the pandemic, a leather shoemaker in Kumasi, Ashanti region, came up with an innovation inspired by a recycled barrel.
"My brother Jude Osei and I decided we would create a basin to encourage regular hand-washing etiquette," Richard Kwarteng, 32, explained to CNN reporters. The two brothers conceived and developed a prototype of a solar-powered hand-washing basin timed with a sensor, in accordance with the 20-second hand-washing guidance issued by the World Health Organization. For their feat, they had less than 48 hours to gather supplies before the lockdown took effect.
They headed to a local market for supplies. On the shopping list: a sink, a faucet, a motherboard, a solar panel, a sensor, and an alarm. When they got home, Kwarteng called a friend and electrician, Amkwaah Boakye, to handle the wiring before the brothers programmed the device to release soapy water when hands or other items came in contact with a sensor stored underneath the faucet. After 25 seconds, an alarm goes off indicating handwashing is complete, then water is released to rinse hands before drying.
The team began and finished the project in five days. Jude Osei recorded a video of his brother Richard Kwarteng demonstrating how to use the device and posted it on social media. It immediately went viral.
"It was amazing to see the shares and likes," said Kwarteng. "We started getting calls left and right. We were so proud of ourselves," he added. In less than two days, Ghana's Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology, and Innovation contacted and later met the brothers to discuss the possibility of manufacturing additional machines for distribution in cities across the country, while President Nana Akufo-Addo in an address to the nation in early April, commended the youths and acknowledged that the "Ghanaian sense of enterprise and innovation is beginning to be felt."
Doctor Car
That creativity echoed across the continent. In Dakar, Senegal students at the Polytechnical Superior School invented the “Doctor Car”, a robot that can safely roam the corridors of a hospital with quarantined patients. The robot, equipped with cameras, is remotely controlled via a phone application by a nurse who uses the metallic assistant to monitor the vital signs, deliver drugs, food and hand sanitizer to patients among other activities. The robot can also speak the main local languages, including Wolof, Pulaar, French and English.
In Tunisia, a police robot called the “PGuard” has been deployed to patrol areas in the capital, Tunis, to ensure that people observe lockdown rules. When its camera spots anyone walking in the largely deserted streets, the remote-controlled robot approaches the person and asks why they are out. They must then show their identity documents and other papers to the robot's camera, so officers can safely check them.
Artificial Intelligence for X-rays
With the support of GIZ, the German international development agency, since mid-March 2020, the Italian Society of Medical Radiology and US tech giant IBM, teachers and students at the Tunisian engineering and technology institute (INSAT) have been developing a web-based platform that scans lung X-rays and evaluates whether patients are likely to be suffering from the novel coronavirus (AI for Xrays ). While it is not the first initiative of its kind in the world, its creators say it is the first to be openly available.
Although it is not a diagnostic tool, the technology reportedly provides a "90 percent" reliable indication of the probability of infection. Thousands of X-rays of the lungs of both healthy people and COVID-19 patients have been fed into the platform, allowing artificial intelligence to learn to recognize signs of the virus on the lungs. The technology simply requires an X-ray image and an internet connection which makes it particularly useful in areas of the country that lack major hospitals and specialist doctors.
African Youth Front on Coronavirus
On 6 May 2020, acknowledging the importance of capitalizing on this surge of creativity from young people on the continent, the African Union Office of the Youth Envoy (OYE), with the support of Commissioner of Social Affairs and Africa Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), established the African Youth Front on Coronavirus, an African Union framework to engage youth in decision-making to contribute youth-led solutions and co-lead Africa’s response to the pandemic, as well as support the implementation of the African Continental Strategic Plan for COVID-19 Pandemic. This resulted in a framework to harness the creativity.
COVID-19 has proved the ability of young Africans to innovate in the face of a crisis. Community-based responses are an important part of the fight against the pandemic, and this is where many youths have emerged as leaders and front-line responders. The crisis has also shed light on the importance of strong education systems that build individual resilience for future crises and the skills to innovate a way out of the current one.