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2021-05-26T01:43:17.564Z


Five prominent women in fields such as science, fashion, activism and communication reflect, with a feminist approach, on the contributions of their continent to the fight against covid-19


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Collateral Benefits is a platform that, through a series of articles, aims to give a voice to Africans and Afro-descendants of all social strata to contribute their knowledge and experiences to the global conversation on fundamental issues of our time. In this selection, five prominent women from fields as diverse as science, fashion, medicine, communication and activism provide an optimistic view on the different ways in which Africa is dealing with COVID-19. The selected female voices move away from the topics that surround their continent to value African ingenuity in general and centers of excellence in medical research in particular.They also draw attention to the importance of taking care of mental health and ensuring the safety of women in times of pandemic. His words are inspiring. And here we offer them:

1) Susana Edjang:

overcome the stigma of mental health

The Equatorial Guinean Susana Edjang is an international development expert and co-founder of Collateral Benefits.Enrique Benavides

Covid-19 has impacted the health services of all African countries, especially those of mental health.

African specialists in this field report an increasing demand for psychological and psychosocial assistance.

This comes from people with pre-existing disorders and others affected by the peaks of stressors related to COVID-19 such as isolation, depression, anxiety about the risks associated with the loss of income and loved ones, and excessive consumption of alcohol and drugs.

The situation has elicited many promising responses that help people who live with them and those who work in this field to overcome the stigma and discrimination associated with these disorders.

Constant, albeit insufficient, visibility of these issues has been maintained during the pandemic.

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First, the African Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have issued a guide to mental health and psychosocial support. Second, at least 27 African countries have integrated mental health into their national responses, with the courageous endorsement of community or village health workers, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). In addition, civil society and the private sector have scaled up existing innovations or created new ones to ensure increasing access to services and information through telemedicine, social media campaigns and other technological solutions. Some examples in this regard are iDocta Africa in Cameroon, Wazi in Kenya, MEGA project in the South African Development Community and Shezlong in Egypt.

Although these opportunities are limited to people with digital skills and access to the internet and mobile phones, they are a good complement to public initiatives that aspire to make mental health services available to those who have the most difficulty accessing them, especially in rural areas.

We know from experience in the Ebola or AIDS crisis that the psychological consequences will last longer than the pandemic

We must then use these innovations to counter the inequalities that keep the treatment gap - the share of people with untreated mental illness - above 70% in Africa, including those living in refugee camps, and that it takes each year to suicide over 35,000 Africans.

Increasing awareness and investment in mental health is crucial, and we know from past experience in the crises of the Ebola or HIV / AIDS epidemic that the psychological consequences will outlast the pandemic.

Prevention and care of those at risk of or already suffering from disorders, including first-line health care providers, is essential.

This support must be better integrated and prioritized in national responses to COVID-19 and beyond.

Susana Edjang

(Equatorial Guinea / Spain) is co-founder of Afroinnova, an innovation platform for Africans living in the diaspora, and is a member of the Council of the Royal African Society of the United Kingdom and co-founder of Collateral Benefits.

2) Táyra Augusto: love yourself

Tayra Augusto is Mozambican.

She is also an actress, singer and model.Derrick Gudo

As a young man I always felt displaced.

She was plump, very tall, and had a mother who was an icon of beauty in Mozambican society.

I did not feel represented by television commercials that brainwashed me to make me believe that the essence of beauty lies in "being thin" and that only in that way people accept you.

If you could get slim, the boys would like you, and the girls would envy you.

Eating disorders didn't take long to come, reminding me daily that if I ate one too many snacks I would have to starve myself the next day to compensate.

I always wished that obsession, anxiety, and depression weren't taking over me, but they did.

And they continue to do so, although over time I have learned to deal with these daily challenges and to apply mechanisms that prevent me from returning to my old habits.

Because of those experiences, positivity and body representation are everything to me.

In overcoming my personal challenges, the fact that I found a niche in that same sector that did not seem to include me helped me in part.

As a plus size model, I represent girls like me who do not meet the standard of being tall with a flat belly and a gap between the thighs.

We need to have healthy discussions about the relationship we have with our body

Small changes are taking place - from stores displaying plus-size mannequins to greater representation in movies - but we need to complete inclusivity, and that goes beyond size.

There are many fringe bodies that are underrepresented in the mainstream media;

If we add race and gender, there is a real need for black African models who look like me.

In the context of covid-19, a study published in October 2020 shows that the anxiety and stress of the situation could be causing body image problems.

We need to verbalize these problems, and question what is considered "the norm", have healthy debates about the relationship we have with our body and reject the conditioning that we have experienced.

I teach people to avoid comments about the appearance of others, unless they are asked, and that they talk about loving every portion of themselves and accepting what they see in the mirror.

Táyra Augusto

(Mozambique / South Africa)

is a singer,

plus-

size model, and chemical engineer.

3) Faith Osier: science made in

Africa

Faith Osier was named one of the 100 Most Influential Women in Africa in 2020.Nic Thuita

We are all born with the desire to live, to prosper, to go further than the previous generation.

My parents made sure that I did not face the indignities they had endured.

They gave me the best education, protected me from illness, and thereby enabled me to make my biggest dreams come true.

I will always be grateful to them.

But in Africa there are many people who do not enjoy this privilege.

We see infections that kill (malaria, HIV, tuberculosis) and debilitating diseases that reduce opportunities for healthy lives.

To that we have to add that there are 420 million who live below the poverty line, for which breaking the cycle is a Herculean task, especially when national institutions cannot sustain these efforts for a critical mass of our population.

I see science as a key to turning what many consider our greatest disadvantage to our greatest advantage.

We have waited for others to define for us in contemporary terms what our illnesses were and what we should do about them.

Images of disease-ridden Africans provide good reporting for the international media.

Scientific initiatives proliferate across Africa

But a story is emerging that also deserves visibility.

Science initiatives proliferate across Africa, and centers of scientific excellence are turning their attention to capacity building.

Think of the success of the Mali International Center for Research Excellence in detecting, treating and managing Ebola patients, which allowed the country to be declared free of hemorrhagic fevers in 2015.

Furthermore, the work of research centers such as the Kenyan Institute for Medical Research and the National Institute for Medical Research of Tanzania is increasing the production of scientific research in Africa and the training of future generations of African scientists.

I am the first African and the second woman to chair the International Union of Immune Societies.

I am working to train 1,000 African PhD students in immunology over the next 10 years through the Legacy Project of the Federation of African Immunological Societies, and to increase the capacity and representation of Africa in global health.

I believe that we can be the solutions that our continent craves, and for that we need to believe in science made in Africa, and in the health, wealth and prosperity that this will bring to the continent.

Faith Osier

(Kenya / Uganda) is an immunologist who chairs the International Union of Immune Societies, is a #Togetherband ambassador for SDG 3, and was named one of the 100 most influential women in Africa in 2020.

4) Josina Z. Machel: we must end gender-based violence

Portrait of Mozambican Josina Machel, defender of women's rights. Angelastudios

I observe the horizon of humanity with my left eye, seeing how the trend advances.

Because we African women who resist violence are rapidly becoming the dust that penetrates the cracks in the systems that are supposed to protect us.

As pillars of society, our only mandate is the collective call for an end to gender-based violence.

Mountains form when the pain of the eruption transforms into purpose.

We live in unusual times, we look at the edge of the precipice called humanity;

Our faith in justice and in the health systems that have failed us, not only me, but all Mozambican women and all African women, is beginning to disappear.

The perpetrators of violence and their accomplices act with impunity in every home and on every street corner without any eye or ear declaring in our favor.

We will not rest until each judicial system is transformed to quickly serve a victim and survivor of abuse

If we succeed in advancing the campaign to achieve Justice for All Women, we will change the story by confronting our judicial systems, which so often side with the aggressors.

We have the strength of numbers with our brothers and sisters on the continent, and we will not rest until each judicial system is transformed to quickly serve a victim and survivor of abuse.

The pandemic of gender-based violence in Africa is man-made.

It is unbridled and dyes all the threads of the fabric of our societies.

It is imperative that my cry of Kuhluka be heard, demanding a rebirth that guarantees the safety and survival of all African women.

It is time to start over and open up to an Africa where our daughters are born to prosper.

Josina Z. Machel

(Mozambique / South Africa) is a defender of women's rights and founder of the Kuhluka Movement, a non-profit initiative that supports women survivors of gender-based violence.

5) Yara Manuela Cumbi: the fight against covid-19 has shown the power of African ingenuity

Yara Manuela Cumbi, Mozambique Health Systems Analyst The Obama Foundation / The Obama Foundation

When the first rumors of the pandemic indicated its destructive potential, many wondered what its effects would be on a global scale.

When the city of Wuhan closed and then Western countries like Italy fell into a serious emergency situation, the question many experts were asking was what catastrophe awaited Africa.

The reality was strikingly different from the predictions. Even taking into account the head start (many African countries reported their first cases in March, a month or two later than Europe, North America and Asia), the continent has had better results and fewer cases. The most affected African country is South Africa, behind countries in North America, Europe and Latin America, in which the pandemic has been unleashed throughout the past year and part of it.

African leaders have risen to the challenge and have overcome geographic, economic and political barriers. There has been intercontinental coordination and collaboration that was absent in previous pandemics and crises and a continental working group has been established. The solutions have been novel, taking into account country-specific contexts and challenges: a Nigerian genomics company just one year old provided substantial funding to expand the available evidence; Ugandan researchers developed a test for the coronavirus.

What we have seen is a break with the narrative that developing countries depend on the knowledge, solutions and resources provided by developed countries.

When Africans create their own solutions, the answers are more flexible and better suited to countries.

We must maintain this path by creating environments that promote and reward our own solutions.

Scientific solutions to the challenges faced by developing countries must be found in developing countries, and can be used as an example for everyone

Yara Manuela Cumbi

(Mozambique) is a health systems analyst who has worked on various public health projects in Mozambique.

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Source: elparis

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