Tonight South Africa begins a 21-day lockdown. While there is unanimous support for the necessity of such a drastic measure it is important to keep level heads; it is also important for the President and the National Command team to be open to constructive suggestions that aim to make sure that the lockdown succeeds in its aim of ‘flattening the curve’ and drastically reducing the incidence of new infections. This article, based on conversations with leading public health experts in South Africa and internationally, must be read in this spirit.
Healthcare
Whither Covid-19? An interview with SA’s chief virus hunter
Professor Lynn Morris has a lifetime of experience fighting viruses. In her last 27 years at the National Institute for Communicable Diseases, she has encountered HIV, Ebola, TB, Listeria, Klebsiella and a multitude of ‘lesser’ pathogens. She thinks that Covid-19 presents one of the greatest challenges yet to both South Africa and the world.
State capture threatens the right to health
In 2017, a debate raged at the Treatment Action Campaign’s (TAC) National Congress about how to respond to corruption across the country. As the levels of scandal and shock around President Jacob Zuma’s behaviour have risen, TAC’s allies have often called on it to take to the streets and join organisations such as the Save South Africa campaign that are calling for Zuma to step down.