African Women, Children Pay the Highest Price to COVID-19

BY Anatole Manzi

In June in New Delhi, the husband of Neelam Kumari Gautam transported his young wife in the back of a rickshaw to eight hospitals in the span of 15 hours. Despite her cries of pain, each hospital turned them away, and Neelam died in childbirth.

Covid-19 had shut the doors, taken over the hospital beds, and monopolised the attention of doctors and nurses.

We do not know how many African women have suffered a similar fate during the nine months the pandemic has raged. We do know, however, that reductions in the use of maternal and child health services due to the pandemic are a tragedy of yet unforeseen proportions.