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Face au coronavirus, l’Afrique se prépare au pire
Authors
March 24, 2020

Alors que le monde est depuis quelques mois confronté à l’une des plus graves crises sanitaires du siècle, l’Afrique semblait en être jusque-là épargnée. Les pays du continent n’avaient alors annoncé que très peu de cas, une dizaine pour certains et aucun pour d’autres. Cependant, à mesure que le temps passe, l’Afrique se trouve avec de plus en plus de cas, d’abord exportés d’Europe et d’Amérique résultant ensuite en une contamination locale. Ce n’est pas la seule crise sanitaire à laquelle l’Afrique a été confrontée ces dernières années. La crise sanitaire Ebola qui a fait des dizaines de milliers de morts a, d’un autre côté, fourni aux pays une expérience de gestion de crise. C’est ce qui explique, en partie, la sévérité des mesures mises en place à l’annonce de quelques cas seulement par une grande majorité de pays. Si c’est l’expérience qui motive les décideurs à faire preuve de sévérité, c’est également le fait qu’ils ont conscience de ne pas faire le poids devant le coronavirus si ce dernier venait à se propager comme en Europe. En Afrique, où la situation politique de certains pays est tendue, une crise sanitaire de cette ampleur et la gestion qui en sera faite par les décideurs pourra reconfigurer leur relation avec la population.

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