Rapid Optimal Covid19 Responses Through Science Advice of a Multidisciplinary Multilateral Demonstration Network

Project Abstract Since the beginning of the pandemic, the responses of the scientific and diplomatic communities have been very different. While world leaders have closed borders and adopted unilateral, uncoordinated and even aggressive measures to defend national interests, scientists, on the other hand, have engaged in unprecedented global collaboration to defeat the new coronavirus together. In Africa, despite the many research structures (universities, research centers, research institutes, etc.) working on different development sectors, there is a notable lack of a formal liaison mechanism to facilitate exchanges between scientific communities and advisory institutions and/or those responsible for formulating public policy. In this covid19 pandemic, the diversity and acuteness of the challenges facing African governments require not only a good mastery of the use of scientific evidence and knowledge, but also effective coordination at national, regional and sub-regional levels to develop internal mechanisms for informed decision-making. This is compounded by the fact that many African countries have underfunded their scientific communities to discover evidence-based information for public policy development. Even more aggravating is the fact that each country has its system sometimes very correlated to the system of the former colony. Despite the slow arrival of Covid-19, the 1.2 billion people living in Africa are at risk; this will remain so until an effective vaccine is available. Compared to developed countries such the United States, which has over 30 beds for every 100,000 people, most African countries have less than 1000 effective beds and only a few ventilators available for millions of people. In urban communities, health facilities tend to be understaffed and overcrowded, while in rural areas, poor roads and unreliable transport make it difficult for people to access health care. Thus, this innovative and unifying project in its approach and objectives is designed to analyse the successes and failures of scientific councils and coordination measures of the response against covid19. This project will reflect on the limits of traditional national and community public policy instruments to address global threats, including whenever participating countries need to be able to anticipate measures that include even geopolitical ramifications of the pandemic and its impact on the international system. The project specifically aim to engage and sensitize target groups including Government, Parliamentarians, Civil Societies, Enforcement Agencies, Youths, Women, Children and Vulnerable Groups to develop evidence-based prevention and control policies based on socio-political and socio-cultural realities. Expected Outputs  Capacity building, knowledge gap and needs assessment  Future research and innovation  Compilation of network recommendations and output  Local, national, international events  Restitution of the Final Science Advice Report