RESUMEN

Although a significant number of the human population in developing countries live in urban communities, majority of the population lives in rural areas. Developing countries, especially in their rural areas, suffer from a lack of healthcare facilities, poverty and high rate of illiteracy. Motivated by the huge socio-economic gap between the developed and the developing worlds, there have been several studies into the COVID-19 pandemic management in developing countries. However, none of these research works emphasised the health cultural beliefs of any developing economy as a basis for their recommendations. Specifically, this paper discusses the pandemic situation in Nigeria with emphasis on the prevalent health cultural beliefs of the citizens of the country, especially those living in rural communities. This is important because each local community defines a socio-ecological cluster of people who are more tightly knitted together in terms of language, relationship, culture, religion, social amenities, business, leadership and so on. As such, there is a need to prepare the socio-ecological units to be more resistant to the spread of the virus; a weaker social-ecological unit will entail a higher risk of community transmissions. With respect to the peculiarity of each local community, this paper recommends strategies for controlling and managing the pandemic in Nigeria using community informatics or grass-root computing. We argue that community informatics can empower and support policy makers and governments of developing countries such as Nigeria in combating and effectively managing a pandemic.

RESUMEN

The water sources of the Sokoto Basin are mainly of interrelated origin. The groundwater is composed of old water recharged in different climate regimes and of recent meteoric water. The recharge source is influenced by both local and regional moisture circulation given the lower slope and intercept of the local meteoric water line (LMWL) relative to those of the global meteoric water line (GMWL) and distribution of the deuterium excess d from -20 to +14 ‰. The identified interrelated water sources were confirmed by variations in tritium measured between 4.9 and <0.4 TU. The groundwater and surface water were identified to be of mixed origin, consisting of interrelated and recent types. This depicts active recharge taking place across the basin. The groundwater recharge was established to be renewable; however, rational water exploitation should be exercised considering growing water demand with the corresponding population rise.

Asunto(s)

RESUMEN

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) will continue to have a significant impact on the way we live for at least the next few years until the scale-up of production and administration of an effective vaccine. Unfortunately, this will not be the last pandemic of infectious diseases the world will experience, and the next one may have more devastating consequences in Africa than COVID-19, unless critical lessons for the future are learnt now for more rapid and robust containment measures. Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the viral cause of COVID-19, is thought to have been introduced into the continent by returning travellers from hotspots in Asia, Europe and America. In a pandemic with Africa having relatively lower morbidity and mortality, it is alarming that in about five months since confirmation of the continent's first case of COVID-19 in Egypt on February 14th, 2020, the infection rate remains at an exponential phase with forty-seven African countries reporting a total of 766,803 cases, 13,191 deaths and 486,925 recoveries as at 31st July, 2020; out of which Nigeria reported 42,689 cases, 878 deaths and 19,290 recoveries, with Lagos State accounting for close to half of all cases in Nigeria. Importantly, lessons learnt during the Ebola epidemic have had a significant impact on Nigeria's COVID-19 response. In this article, we discuss Nigeria's response, health system preparedness and the lessons that are critical for containment of future outbreaks, epidemics or pandemics of any infectious disease in Africa.

La maladie du coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) va continuer à avoir un impact sérieux sur la façon dont nous vivons pour encore quelques années jusqu'à ce que nous mettions au point et administrions un vaccin. Malheureusement, cela ne va pas être la dernière épidémie à laquelle le monde va être confronté, et la prochaine pourrait avoir des conséquences encore plus désastreuses en Afrique que la COVID-19 à moins que des leçons soient tirées pour un confinement plus rapide et plus sévère. Le syndrome respiratoire aigu coronavirus 2 (Sars-CoV-2), la cause virale de la COVID-19, a été introduit, pense-t-on, sur le continent africain par des travailleurs qui revenaient de pays fortement touchés en Asie, Europe et Amérique. Dans une pandémie où la morbidité et la mortalité sont relativement faibles en Afrique, il est alarmant de constater qu'environ cinq mois après la confirmation du premier cas de COVID-19 en Égypte le 14 février 2020, le taux d'infection reste à une phase exponentielle, 47 pays africains ayant déclaré un total de 766 803 cas, 13 191 décès et 486 925 récupérations au 31 juillet 2020 ; le Nigeria a fait état de 42 689 cas, 878 décès et 19 290 guérisons, l'État de Lagos représentant près de la moitié de tous les cas au Nigeria. Il est important de noter que les leçons tirées de l'épidémie d'Ebola ont eu un impact significatif sur la réponse du Nigeria à la COVID-19. Dans cet article, nous examinons la réponse du Nigeria, la préparation du système de santé et les leçons qui sont essentielles pour contenir les futures épidémies ou pandémies de toute maladie infectieuse en Afrique.