Coronavirus: What Can We Learn From Africa's Ebola Crisis?

A panel of experts have joined forces in the middle of the coronavirus outbreak, to discuss which lessons learned from Africa's Ebola epidemic could advise current strategy.

The year 2013 saw military deployments from Europe and the United States to support Africa.

In a similar scenario to that experienced this year, 2015 also saw NHS staff working alongside British forces to prepare for the medical response on the continent.

In the webinar, held by defence think tank the Royal United Services Institute, some of those involved in Africa's fight last decade have highlighted the strengths and weaknesses of the approach to benefit the COVID-19 effort.

Dr Nene Morisho, Senior Researcher and Coordinator at the Pole Institute, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), says the start of the Ebola outbreak saw African nations create a system which was "not dealing with other disease".

He also said the creation of a Ebola treatment centre in response to the outbreak was a "big mistake".

Doctors from around the continent, many of whom "could not even speak the local languages", arrived to treat patients who only trust their local health staff.

Offering retrospective insights while the world battles with COVID-19, Dr Morisho stressed the importance of communication.

Effective interaction with the people at risk of catching the current virus has relied heavily on trusted information sources.

"Each of our 26 provinces in DRC has also its own communication strategy," said Dr Morisho.

District majors and village chiefs in charge of local communication ensured a "very effective" framework was already in place when coronavirus hit Africa - kickstarting hygiene measures now familiar to many nations.

Even in the aftermath of the Ebola crisis, Interpeace President Scott Weber believes African nations still focus on emergency response, rather than resilience and preventative measures.