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Covid-19 Pandemic: When the world Shapes our lives

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Africa

COVID-19

 

The making of the new a AGE:

The world has been hit with several pandemics at different eras in the past, but the social changes that preceded them became the “scars”. The scars are the big innovations that preceded the events. Lives usually do not remain the same after every major global pandemic or world war. It is a case of “adapt or be gone with the wind”. The Spanish flu of 1918 killed over 20 million people, the Asian flu of 1956 killed about 2 million people, and the Flu Pandemic of 1968 killed about a million people. Every of these events brought drastic change that led to disruption in several social structures and ignited big innovations and their adoptions.

Is Corona virus going away anytime soon? Major cities across the world are on lock-down. While experts in various fields fight the virus that has put the world on its knees, the politicians are playing the game they know best. The health workers fighting at the front line to save lives and are losing theirs in the process. The virus has come on a visit, how soon it intends to stay still bewilders us. The virus might not go away soon as expected but the major concern should be how we can cut the virus’ freedom. How soon we want the virus gone depends on how we adapt in the fight. It could take some time.

Like I often tell people that data is like mini-skirt, the “thick thighed” know what they want others to see. The re-appearance of Ebola virus in Congo shows the inadequacy and gap in the primary healthcare in Africa to capture data of new cases at the grassroots level. Congo had celebrated the end of Ebola virus until a new case was discovered. The world health organization (WHO) would only declare a country based on available data. The social structures in the rural area are yet to be disrupted to see the impacts and adoption of primary healthcare among the locals. Many locals still prefer to visit the witch doctors for treatment. The failure and poor adoption at the primary health care level is putting much pressure on hospitals. The virus has forcefully awaken governments to the duties they long abandoned, building good healthcare infrastructures, locking down people could lead to multiple pandemics. The lock-down approach to fight the covid-19 virus, especially in a country like Nigeria, where the economy is not digitalized enough to enable inflow is like fighting a battle and blocking the routes to needed supplies. Many countries in Africa do not have a social welfare structure to efficiently disburse palliatives.

How long can we sustain the fight against covid-19 by shutting economic activities and reliant on donations? Donations are products of economic activities and when the economy is shut down for too long, donors themselves could become the needy. The epidemiologists and virologists might be trained to curtail the virus spread but the knowledge of the economic vehicle that aids their “operations” is beyond their expertise. While we fight the virus, we must ensure to maintain economic balance so as to not run out of firepower. We should explore other alternatives aside total lockdown. Copying and pasting strategies from countries with different economic and social structures may not work in Nigeria. We must adapt to be victorious in the fight. To sustain the fight, we must ensure an economic balance by preventing those who have the virus from infecting others. This strategy opens up economic activities but with a caveat of “no mask, movement”. Preventing people from contracting the virus maybe more expensive to sustain but preventing the infected from infecting the uninfected seems to be better for economic balance. The later strategy is implementable by assuming everyone is a potential carrier. I strongly believe the enforcement of “no nose mask, no movement” policy would ensure the balance. Compulsory wearing of mask reduces the rate of infection from those who already have the virus through coughing, laughing and talking. Many communities in Africa are not structured to implement social distancing.

In the process of adapting to fight the pandemics, our lifestyles will change which could be the birth of new innovations. The business operations will have to be redesigned to prevent the spread of the virus while the economy runs. The layouts and point of payments in grocery and retail stores will have to be redesigned to counter the spread of the virus. New shopping habit would be developed. The new innovations will have to be democratized. Democratizing innovation means new services and products will have to be more user-centric. We are fighting a virus that spreads with more physical interactions.

It is either we innovate or die. The covid-19 pandemic has sparked a revolution. You either choose to be a part of the success stories or a victim. Before a proven covid-19 vaccine is discovered, new behaviours would have built up into new social structure. What new innovations (products and services) can you think of to fit into the new social structures built by the drastic change of behaviours due to covid-19? The paradigm is about to shift, how do you adapt? Humans have shaped the world at will but when the world to shapes humans, it happens few times in a century. Wash your hands, stay safe and innovate!