Pasha 115: Five ideas about why so many top African officials have died of COVID-19

By Ozayr Patel, Digital Editor

Seventeen African leaders – national ministers and heads of state – had lost their lives to COVID-19 by February 2021. The continent is made up of 54 countries, so there’s a high number of leaders, but the number of deaths is out of proportion compared with other continents (where the global total is five).

In some cases, the deaths of leaders meant a shift in policy. This was notable in Tanzania and Burundi, which initially had strong COVID-19 denial in their policies. Now there is evidence of strategies being put in place to fight the pandemic. But ministerial deaths do not necessarily…

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