The evolving SARS-CoV-2 epidemic in Africa: Insights from rapidly expanding genomic surveillance

INTRODUCTION Investment in Africa over the past year with regard to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) sequencing has led to a massive increase in the number of sequences, which, to date, exceeds 100,000 sequences generated to track the pandemic on the continent. These sequences have profoundly affected how public health officials in Africa have navigated the COVID-19 pandemic. RATIONALE We demonstrate how the first 100,000 SARS-CoV-2 sequences from Africa have helped monitor the epidemic on the continent, how genomic surveillance expanded over the course of the pandemic, and how we adapted our sequencing methods to deal with an evolving virus. Finally, we also examine how viral lineages have spread across the continent in a phylogeographic framework to gain insights into the underlying temporal and spatial transmission dynamics for several variants of concern (VOCs). RESULTS Our results indicate that the number of countries in Africa that can sequence the virus within their own borders is growing and that this is coupled with a shorter turnaround time from the time of sampling to sequence submission. Ongoing evolution necessitated the continual updating of primer sets, and, as a result, eight primer sets were designed in tandem with viral evolution and used to ensure effective sequencing of the virus. The pandemic unfolded through multiple waves of infection that were each driven by distinct genetic lineages, with B.1-like ancestral strains associated with the first pandemic wave of infections in 2020. Successive waves on the continent were fueled by different VOCs, with Alpha and Beta cocirculating in distinct spatial patterns during the second wave and Delta and Omicron affecting the whole continent during the third and fourth waves, respectively. Phylogeographic reconstruction points toward distinct differences in viral importation and exportation patterns associated with the Alpha, Beta, Delta, and Omicron variants and subvariants, when considering both Africa versus the rest of the world and viral dissemination within the continent. Our epidemiological and phylogenetic inferences therefore underscore the heterogeneous nature of the pandemic on the continent and highlight key insights and challenges, for instance, recognizing the limitations of low testing proportions. We also highlight the early warning capacity that genomic surveillance in Africa has had for the rest of the world with the detection of new lineages and variants, the most recent being the characterization of various Omicron subvariants. CONCLUSION Sustained investment for diagnostics and genomic surveillance in Africa is needed as the virus continues to evolve. This is important not only to help combat SARS-CoV-2 on the continent but also because it can be used as a platform to help address the many emerging and reemerging infectious disease threats in Africa. In particular, capacity building for local sequencing within countries or within the continent should be prioritized because this is generally associated with shorter turnaround times, providing the most benefit to local public health authorities tasked with pandemic response and mitigation and allowing for the fastest reaction to localized outbreaks. These investments are crucial for pandemic preparedness and response and will serve the health of the continent well into the 21st century

HIV/AIDS and the construction of Sub-Saharan Africa: Heuristic lessons from the social sciences for policy

There is no doubt that Sub-Saharan African countries face major problems due to the HIV/AIDS pandemic that has ravaged the region. Yet the Eurocentric construction of the region as the source of the virus not only creates negative stereotypes in social science disciplines like geography, but also glosses over the potential of social science disciplines to provide knowledge and influence policy about HIV/AIDS. This oppositional construction of the region has unfortunately contributed to a glossing over of many aspects of Sub-Saharan Africa's people, their environment, culture, history, politics, economics, gender relations, and the region's global status that would provide important input for policy aimed at curbing the devastating spread of HIV in the region. This paper argues that once we recognize that HIV is a global virus with trans-cultural implications, social science disciplines, such as geography, can reveal certain attributes about the region and its HIV/AIDS pandemic that can be used in policy formulation to combat the spread of the virus.Geography HIV/AIDS Eurocentric Sub-Saharan Africa Discourse Health policy

Fashioning My Garden of Solace: A Black Feminist Autoethnography

Through the lens of Black feminist autoethnography and (auto)biographical narrative, this article makes an impactful contribution to postcolonial feminist thought, fashion and cultural studies. I consider the significance of fashion and material culture as sociopolitical strategies of presence that offer an unparalleled understanding of my unique lived experience as a Ghanaian-Cameroonian-American Black woman. By exploring the intergenerational legacy of how my mother and I actively navigate the dichotomy of hypervisible, yet unseen, this article further considers the emancipatory potential and underacknowledged legacy of Black women’s contributions to aesthetic and visual culture through embodied activism located within the practice of horticulture and gardening, alongside self-fashioned identity