This
afternoon I called a few people in Africa, to find out how the pandemic is
affecting their fellow citizens. And I got the same message from each call. Poverty
and desperation are the main consequences of border closures and other
domestic restrictions. The pandemic is ruining their fragile economies. There
are no commercial flights coming in and out, no significant cross border trade,
besides the traditional exchanges related to the informal sectors, little exports,
and plenty of job losses. This pandemic takes these countries backwards. For those
like me who spent a number of years working in the development field, it is an
incredibly sad moment. Many of the gains are just being lost.
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