Connecting Public Health disaster with the environment in the context of COVID 19 Pandemic experience from an African perspective

Environment and health are considered global common good because both health and environment makes the world a global community. A global public health disaster like the Covid-19 pandemic automatically reminds us that we are a global community and that no one exists without the other's support. Hence, the deterioration of one part of the world is a threat to the global community. An outbreak of pandemic in one part of the world is also a threat to the global community, for example, SARS, Ebola, and the ongoing COVID 19. Environmental degradation and pandemic breed chaos, violence, anarchy, fear, death, and infections. They make people vulnerable to diseases and death. Environment and health are also linked to global security. The scarcity of resources, especially renewable ones, is a threat to global peace – eco-violence. Health too is linked positively to security and socio-economic development because epidemics and pandemics are not only threats to human health; they also hurt economic and socio-political life. The outbreak of Coronavirus is an excellent example. It causes anxiety, fear, and worry about biosecurity and micro-organisms that can be used as bioweapons. Therefore, there is a connection between health, environment, and security. These three elements connect all human beings directly or indirectly together.

In the recent past, Africa and West Africa have witnessed some epidemics like Ebola and lesser fever that threaten the region and the global community. Health, environment, disease, and the divinity in African are linked together because ill-health is understood from religious and environmental backgrounds. Therefore, the ongoing Covid-19, because of its mode of transmission, is environmentally linked. The presentation discusses: the global health community, the relationship between human beings and nature, and African understating of health.