COVID-19 and the Right to Health in Africa

This collection draws upon a range of thematic and regional case studies and uses the right to health as a normative framework to explore the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in Africa. Drawing lessons from across the continent, the book discusses the challenges faced by African states seeking to ensure the availability, accessibility, and quality of health care in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. In particular, the volume explores the impact of the pandemic on the right to health of vulnerable and marginalized groups, such as women, children, elderly persons with disabilities, refugees and asylum seekers, and people from disadvantaged communities. Due to the poor funding of the healthcare systems, access to health-related services was limited to these groups in many African countries, thereby leading to avoidable COVID-19-related deaths through shortages of vital supplies, including diagnostic tests, ventilators, and oxygen cylinders. Chapters in the volume also explore the contentious issues of vaccine mandates, equity, resource allocation, and the rights of healthcare providers during the pandemic. This collection will be of interest to students of public health, human rights, and the social sciences, as well as to academics and policymakers with an interest in the nexus between the COVID-19 pandemic and public health policy in Africa.

Ebenezer Durojaye is a professor of law at the Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria, South Africa. His areas of research include human rights, socio-economic rights, sexual and reproductive health and rights, gender, and constitutionalism. He is the editor of Litigating the Right to Health in Africa: Challenges and Prospects (Routledge 2015) and co-editor of International Law and the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control: Lessons from Africa and Beyond (Routledge 2022), Constitutional Resilience and the COVID-19 Pandemic: Perspectives from Sub-Saharan Africa (2022), and Sexual Harassment, Law and Human Rights in Africa (2023). Roopanand Mahadew is an associate professor of law at the Department of Law, University of Mauritius, Mauritius. His research and teaching explore international human rights law, public international law, and legal research methodology. He is the author of numerous journal articles and book chapters.

1. Introduction 4. The situation of COVID-19 vaccines inequity in developing countries