Reviews of COVID-19-related research in high-income countries show that the more a country is hit by the pandemic, the more effort it devotes to research. This report contributes to existing knowledge by providing case studies about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on two West African universities where COVID-19 has exacerbated the existing scarcity and inequality in resource distribution. More specifically, for most researchers at the Universite Felix Houphouet-Boigny (UFHB, Cote d’Ivoire) and the University of Cape Coast (UCC, Ghana), 58% and 61% respectively, COVID-19 has caused a decrease in research funding, which is derived largely from private sources
