Collecting resources from and for all levels of African societies to coordinate COVID19-responses by African organizations and influencers
Thousands of individuals and hundreds of grassroots and international organisations, CBOs, NPOs, governmental and industrial are working hard to mitigate the effects of the pandemic on the African continent. We are not trying to replicate other organisations’ efforts, instead:
We will update this post over the coming few days and update information and resources from:
GoogleDoc: tinyurl.com/COVID19-Africa-Response
Country list: tinyurl.com/COVID19-Africa-country-respons
Github: github.com/AfricArxiv/COVID19-Africa-Response
Retweet: twitter.com/AfricArxiv/status/1240208295266304002
Let us collaborate and streamline processes, interconnect platforms (GoogleDocs & Spreadsheets, Wikis, Twitter streams, collectives, …) our attempt is to make this collection as interoperable and synergetic with other Africa-specific initiatives around the coronavirus as possible.
! Note that information collected here might not have been quality-checked or otherwise reviewed for accuracy. How can this be coordinated?
ANYONE CAN CONTRIBUTE
Please do add comments, suggestions, questions to this doc. They will be integrated, streamlined and sorted upon availability by the admin team.
?Join us at https://t.co/P5v8pYsxR1 ?
— AfricArXiv (@AfricArxiv) March 18, 2020
for an #Africa-centered response to the #COVID19 pandemic.
What questions do you have?
What challenges are you facing?
What resources can you provide?
Are you working on a mitigation strategy and can share best practices?#coronavirus pic.twitter.com/GFJgy0FOVs
- Information shared on our website is automatically-translated into 19 Languages spoken on the continent.
Contact us to improve translations where you see need: contribute@africarxiv.org
Essentials
- Stay calm
- The virus spreads through air droplets dispersed during sneezing and coughing, also direct skin contact
- Wash your hands frequently
- Keep a minimum physical distance (1.5 meters) to other people
- Cover your nose and mouth when coughing or sneezing
- Check on friends and relatives, esp. elderly and vulnerable people – remotely if possible
- Ask if anyone needs assistance: food supply, social care, …
- Collect and share information on best practices
- Follow general as well as COVID19-specific hygiene guidance
Lessons-learned from the Ebola outbreak
Add more references as you see fit
Please read politica.think.bm/2020/03/covid-19-lessons-from-west-africas-battle-against-ebola/
Resources overview
Africa-specific
- afro.who.int/health-topics/coronavirus-covid-19
- africacdc.org
- covid-19-africa.sen.ovh/
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_coronavirus_pandemic_in_Africa
- pollyz.wiki/index.php/
- covid19info.live/africa/
- …
- …
Country-level
- Link to spreadsheet: tinyurl.com/COVID19-Africa-country-respons
- Collect relevant documents per country on github: github.com/AfricArxiv/COVID19-Africa-Response
- Resources and info that is country-specific
- Translate into local languages
- …
Globally relevant and applicable in Africa
Collection of intl resources that are applicable to the African context
Please help to indicate the available languages
- coronavirustechhandbook.com/ (en)
- weileizeng.github.io/Open-Source-COVID-19/ (en)
- covid-19.alibabacloud.com/ (en)
- github.com/dialoguemd/covid-19 (en)
- docutopia.tupale.co/s/coronapedia:intro# (es)
- …
Tracking the outbreak
Global maps
- Global map by gisanddata.maps.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/bda7594740fd40299423467b48e9ecf6
- …
Africa
What you can do
Online mitigation strategies
Are internet providers capable to keep up and improve their services?
Connectivity might get affected. >> http://africa-internet.com – pls report
- Read and contribute to coronavirustechhandbook.com/ and other online initiatives
- Mobilize resources and transfer knowledge collected online to offline
- Follow trusted organisations for updates and behavioural instructions
- …
Hashtags
- #SeparateAndTogether
- #CoronaVirusAfrica
- #Africa #coronavirus #COVID19
- …
Offline mitigation strategies
- Ask relatives, friends, and neighbors if they need help with anything
- Safety first – keep your physical distance (2-3 meters)
- Buy/collect vegetable and crop seeds
- Plant vegetables if you have a plot of land
- …
Translations into regional languages
What resources can we mobilize to mass translate vital content/infos into local African languages
Collect information in Arabic / French / Swahili / …
See info.africarxiv.org/languages/
- Translate all collected information from and to English/French / Arabic / Swahili / Yoruba / … infographics for illiterate ppl, those that speak local languages and kids
- …
Researchers
AfricArXiv is working towards building an Africa-owned preprint repository and is reaching out to and discussing with various other organizations and partners. Meanwhile, we are partnering with the established preprint repository providers Open Science Framework (OSF) – ScienceOpen and Zenodo.
Submit any COVID-19 relevant research and information toi AfricArXiv as a text document (preprint, postprint), presentation (PDF, PPT), infographics (PNG, PDF) >> info.africarxiv.org/submit/
Please read our guideline ‘Before you submit‘ and follow instructions on the platform of your choice.
- Make lists of available research equipment that might be needed to support authorities
- stakeholders: info.africarxiv.org/stakeholders/
- Add more at docs.google.com/spreadsheets/…/
- …
BioMedical
Provide a platform where Research labs can volunteer to run PCR screenings on COVID19 DNA/RNA samples to investigate for mutants and derivatives
- Volunteer with personnel/equipment available to perform molecular biology, clinical research tests and screens so to support hospitals
- Compile list of the available resource partners to implement that in various countries in Africa
- Coronavirus ‘rapid test kits’ to be made in Senegal – BBC News youtube.com/watch?v=BnczXc0g_IE
- …
- …
- …
Other Disciplines
- …
- …
- …
Software & Code
Makerspaces, coding communities and innovation hubs on the continent to design immediate response and software
Makerspaces
- Corona Care Maker Initiatives (GoogleDoc), https://www.careables.org/
- Make a list of the things you can provide (through 3D printing or other things)
- Reach out locally to ask what people need most and see if you can provide that utilizing and deploying Open Source Hardware
- Encourage projects like this: hackaday.com/2020/03/12/ultimate-medical-hackathon-how-fast-can-we-design-and-deploy-an-open-source-ventilator/
- Tests are pcr based, is open source hardware available?
- Is the test procedure open?
- …
Citizens
Ask questions: what do you need to know?
What resources and information would you like to get?
Report on specific challenges you are experiencing or have observed or heard about
…
Q&A
How do you self-isolate in a squatter camp / slum / shanty town?
…
What affordable and feasible hygiene measures can people apply?
…
What tips and best practices can be suggested?
…
How can you deliver resources to self-isolating individuals if there is poor road infrastructure and no stable delivery mechanisms?
…
Who do you reach out to for reliable information and advice?
- Community health workers
- Local health facilities
- …
Infographics
Collection of infographics on hygiene measures to avoid infection
Who is working on Africa customized infographics?
Please provide links and screenshots (include sources/credentials) of existing infographics
Contribute by translating into local and regional African languages
Share them on social media
i4policy: pollyz.wiki/index.php/General_Knowledge
- Translations: editable files are linked in the table at pollyz.wiki/index.php/General_Knowledge
- For more see http://www.pollyz.wiki/index.php/How_to_contribute
Recommendations provided by CDC Africa – [Download PDF]
Doctors without borders – msf.org/ (English, Swahili)
Medical supplies / DIY and donated equipment
List here resources where medical supplies can be found in emergency
Survey (Google Form)
Crowdsourcing information from scientists, makerspaces, coding communities
- Make that information immediately available to the public (Google Spreadsheet, open for comments)
- Things to ask
- Org name
- Contact email
- Twitter, Facebook, ORCID, other social accounts
- Skills
- Comment section
Credentials
License: CC-BY 4.0: COVID19-Africa-Response-Alliance
Contributing and cited individuals and organisations
Names of organisations and individuals – if you want to be cited/tagged
Your name or that of your organisation
- AfricArXiv, africarxiv.org
- Code for Africa https://codeforafrica.org/
- Careables https://www.careables.org/
- i4Policy https://i4policy.org/ –
- http://www.pollyz.wiki/index.php/General_Knowledge
- …
- …
References
Nordling Linda (Mar 15, 2020) sciencemag.org/news/2020/03/ticking-time-bomb-scientists-worry-about-coronavirus-spread-africa
– chaseafrica.org.uk/coronavirus-chase-partners/
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