Health and Economic Trade-Offs of COVID Policies in Sub-Saharan Africa
Government actions taken in response to the pandemic are often credited or blamed for their effect on the disease itself; less so for the other, more indirect, costs of these actions such as reduced attention to other illnesses. Mortality and morbidity that result from actions taken to try to prevent the spread of the disease are more difficult to measure, much less attribute to specific government policies. But let’s be clear: it is not a question of saving lives or not saving lives. Rather, it is a question of trying to protect the lives of people from one malady (COVID) as opposed to another (the consequences of serious economic decline and increased poverty).