Post #1: Ethiopia and the Socio-Economic Impacts of COVID-19
By Halie Schuster
The effects of the novel coronavirus pandemic have reached nearly every corner of the globe. A crisis of this scale has dramatically changed all our lives, both economically and societally. As nations around the world struggle to contain COVID-19 and its impact, Ethiopia is no different. The pandemic was first confirmed to have reached Ethiopia on March 13th and despite being Africa’s second most populous country, the nation is struggling to recover.
Ethiopia seemingly had a slew of advantages at the outset of COVID-19. The country was benefitting from infrastructure investments, poverty reduction, and had political plans in place for their first democratic election (UNCT, 2020). While other countries were debating whether to take the virus seriously, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed swiftly declared a five-month state of emergency in April and moved to implement containment measures. The Ethiopian government quickly closed schools, restaurants and entertainment outlets, prohibited religious, sporting, and other large public gatherings, suspended travel to over 80 countries, and postponed general elections. Following the lead of respected Health Minister Dr. Lia Tadesse, the government immediately subjected incoming travelers to a mandatory quarantine, mandated the wearing of face masks in public, enforced social distancing measures and deployed thousands of community health workers to educate and screen citizens across the country. As an even more extraordinary step, they pardoned more than 4,000 inmates to prevent the spread of COVID within the prison system (Alemayehou, 2020).
These early health efforts managed to contain the spread of coronavirus, but as Ethiopian migrant laborers return home by the thousands, Ethiopia faces a growing outbreak. More than 30,000 workers have re-entered Ethiopia since mid-March and, according to Ethiopian officials, at least 927 of them were infected upon arrival, however experts estimate that the true number is probably much higher (Marks, 2020). This places a huge strain on the country’s poorly equipped health system. Although there were low counts of COVID as of August, these numbers are rising, and many cases are suspected to be going undetected by the country’s sparse testing. “All this is occurring in a country that has just one respiratory therapist, ill-equipped public hospitals and few medical resources in rural areas,” writes Simon Marks in a recent article for the New York Times (2020).
Despite government adjustments to its fiscal and monetary policies that aimed to support businesses, Ethiopians are also suffering from the virus’s economic fallout. The pandemic resulted in a sharp decline of economic growth, a rise in debt risks, heightened inflation and unemployment rates, and an increase of displaced citizens. In the capital city Addis Ababa, major hotels are nearly empty causing jobs in tourism and construction to disappear while the flow of money sent home by migrant workers comes to unprecedented halt. These economic consequences of the pandemic are exacerbated when combined with Ethiopia’s substantial pre-existing debt - external and domestic debt account for approximately 30 and 27 percent of GDP, respectively (Alemayehou, 2020). This threatens “to reverse years of progress, particularly for the poorest and most vulnerable among Ethiopia’s 105 million people” (UNCT, 2020).
To make matters worse, Ethiopia was struggling with a large-scale desert locust invasion even before the pandemic hit. This locust infestation dangerously disrupted the country’s agricultural sector, increasing levels of food insecurity and outbreaks of cholera, measles, and yellow fever. Not only was this crisis affecting close to a million Ethiopians, but it was already straining health services prior to the onset of COVID-19. The UNCT reports that the locust invasion worsens the trajectory of the pandemic significantly, especially when compounded with traditional practices, limited public awareness, and rising poverty (2020).
Additionally, social unrest triggered by long-standing conflict between ethnic groups have resurfaced and “led to conflict, the loss of lives and property, and, at last count, 1.7 million internally displaced persons” (CNCT, 2020). Following the June murder of the singer and activist Hachaluu Hundessa, who was revered by the Oromo ethnic group, violent anti-government protests broke out prompting the government to shut down the internet for over three weeks (Marks, 2020). At the same time, Ethiopia’s 26 Eritrean refugee camps have become densely overpopulated (CNCT, 2020). Such living conditions and societal conflict have made it even more difficult to contain COVID-19.
The wide-ranging and serious socio-economic impacts of the pandemic have had devastating effects across Ethiopia. Although initial efforts to manage the COVID-19 proved to be beneficial, the trajectory of the pandemic has deviated from optimistic to a more dire one. Underlying economic woes have become increasingly severe as unemployment rises and migrant laborers re-enter the country. And while the strained ill-equipped public health sector struggles to combat infections, social unrest, an agricultural crisis, and overpopulated refugee camps only make it harder to contain the virus. The Ethiopian government needs to implement immediate and aggressive new measures in order to save lives and livelihoods in the wake of this devastating pandemic.
References
Alemayehou, Mimi. Ethiopia Battles the Pandemic and Its Economic Consequences, CSIS, June 2020. Retrieved from https://www.csis.org/analysis/ethiopia-battles-pandemic-and-its-economic-consequences
Marks, Simon. Ethiopian Workers Are Forced to Return Home, Some with Coronavirus, New York Times, August 2020. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/01/world/africa/ethiopian-migrant-workers-coronavirus.html
UNCT Ethiopia. Socio-Economic Impact of COVID‑ 19 in Ethiopia, Relief Web, June 2020. Retrieved from https://reliefweb.int/report/ethiopia/socio-economic-impact-covid-19-ethiopia
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