Abstract
Throughout the history of African societies, pandemics have claimed, in some instances more lives than warfare. Africa is susceptible to many pandemics. Given the state of underdevelopment amongst African nation-states characterised by low levels of education, poor health care facilities, lack of basic infrastructure, poverty, low levels of income, lack of skilled health care workers, and many more factors, it is not sufficiently equipped to handle pandemics that are life-threatening. Hence, it is prone to outbreaks of infectious diseases. Pandemics cause the socio-economic crisis, which in turn affects political stability. In the history of Africa, the Ebola disease, HIV/Aids, Cholera are some of the major diseases that have ravished nation-states in contemporary times. Now, just like other parts of the world, it has to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic that has far-reaching consequences. This article seeks to interrogate the nature and causes of major pandemics in the globe and the African continent and the steps taken to ameliorate these. It further examines the impact of pandemics on the socio-economic and political spheres of life in the continent.
Highlights
Pandemics has long been a challenge for nationstates often changing the course of history
The historiography of pandemics suggests that early findings allude to its origin in European countries during the time of early trade, colonisation, and wars, Africa to a significant extent contributed to the list of pandemics that plagues the continent and the globe
Food scarcity, anemia, malaria, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/AIDs, tuberculosis, and poor basic services add to the burden of pandemics
Summary
Pandemics has long been a challenge for nationstates often changing the course of history. It has ravaged humanity and at times signals an end to entire civilizations. The history of pandemics in Africa, some peculiar to the continent and its nation-states, has had devastating consequences on the lives of citizens, loss in economic productivity, breakdown in its societal structures, and its effective functioning. It is in this context that the paper provides an overview of major pandemics in the globe and the African continent, the impact of
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