Covid-19, the African Story

Why do many people claim that female leaders have handled the Covid crisis so well? And why are so few women on the panels working on reconstruction?

This episode looks beyond the pandemic to what happens next. Will we be able to build back fairer?  We speak with Nigerian and Kenyan fact-checkers Bamas Victoria and Marian Wasia,  and hear from UN Women's Laura Turquet in New York about what the world can learn from Argentina's recovery.


Plus, the Covid-19 disinformation top ten: featuring Bill Gates, pork, and a fake rumour about onions which has been around since Roman times.

Let’s be honest. Black lives haven’t always mattered to some unscrupulous medical researchers. 

So any discussion of vaccine hesitancy has to acknowledge those doubts;  we talk about the Kano incident. We’ll find out from a Nigerian journalist who covered the tragedy exactly what happened, and why some people still don’t trust big drug companies. 

And we look at anti-vax history.  How did a trend amongst conservative clergymen in 18th Century England develop into a worldwide anti-Western, anti-establishment movement? How is a fraudulent former doctor from Eton involved in the story? And what's the Hollywood connection?

Why do so many people not trust health providers, governments, and international drugs companies? The very people whose job it is to keep us alive and healthy?   And is Bill Gates really trying to kill Africans?

This episode also explores a Kenyan quiz, designed to test people's Covid knowledge, and looks at the lockdown and its impact.

On the northern tip of Kenya, 'Covid kidnappings' are a hazard, and al Shabaab force villagers to listen to fake news videos. But solar-powered camel ambulances are part of the fightback.

We look at fake appeals to African identity, and explore the role of the Nigerian WhatsApp diaspora on fake medical news and look at the roles and responsibilities of religious leaders.

Everybody from your Granny to the Taliban uses it; but where is the fact-checking?  This episode looks at how WhatsApp and disinformation go hand in hand in Kenya and Nigeria. 

We look at how you can spot fake medical news yourself; how to report on a disease that doesn't officially exist; and learn how did one anti-vax Kenyan doctor lead the movement to downplay Covid-19, before succumbing to the disease himself.

Featuring Kenyan reporter Peter Mwai and American filmmaker Charles Kriel. 

Warning: this episode may contain Bill Gates. 

In Nigeria and Kenya, where people didn’t always trust the media, nor doctors, in the first place, WhatsApp and Facebook had over recent years led to social media becoming one of the most important sources of health information.

"Why listen to health reporters with a higher degree in science when Karen, or Makena, on Facebook, can tell you straight?"

This has led to a range of wild conspiracy theories; but who is behind them?  What links a failed British doctor, yoga moms, and al Shabab? And just why would Bill Gates want to wipe out Africans?

Presented by Nelly Kalu. Written and produced by Nick Raistrick and Nelly Kalu for IWPR, Music and sound engineering by Lee Sparey.

This podcast is part of the Institute of War And Peace Africa Resilience Network (ARN) programme. For more information please go to https://africaresiliencenetwork.com where you can also find resources on how to spot misinformation, as well as articles written by Kenyan and Nigerian journalists.