In Africa, the latest statistics on COVID-19 are discouraging. Just 6 percent—about 78 million—of the continent’s 1.3 billion people have been fully vaccinated. Worldwide, by comparison, 43 percent are fully vaccinated, and boosters are now widely available in many countries.
在非洲，新冠的最新统计数据令人沮丧。非洲13亿人口中，只有6%（约7800万人）完全接种了疫苗。相比之下，在全世界范围内，43%的人已完全接种，而且现在许多国家都在广泛提供加强针。
Without enough vaccines available in Africa, COVID-19 marches on infecting millions of people. Even assessing the true scale of the pandemic on the continent is difficult. A recent World Health Organization assessment estimated that only one in seven cases of COVID in Africa are being detected because of a limited amount of testing.
由于非洲没有足够的疫苗可用，新冠继续蔓延，感染了数百万人。甚至评估新冠在非洲流行的真正规模也很困难。世界卫生组织最近的一项评估指出，由于检测数量有限，非洲只有七分之一的新冠病例被发现。
And while many Western and Asian countries are recovering economically from the pandemic and returning to some version of normalcy, most countries in Africa continue to struggle. Disruptions to schooling, health care, and livelihoods have sunk many families deeper into poverty, leaving them without enough food and basic services.
虽然许多西方和亚洲国家正在从大流行中恢复经济，生活也在某种程度上恢复常态，但非洲大多数国家仍在苦苦挣扎。学校教育、卫生保健和生计的中断让许多家庭陷入更深的贫困之中，使他们无法获得足够的食物和基础服务。
We should all be upset about this inequity. (I’ve written recently about this divide and the steps the world needs to take to get the virus under control.) It’s critical that more be done to get vaccines into the arms of the people at high risk for COVID, including the elderly and immunocompromised, who are living in low-income countries. And the recent detection of the Omicron variant serves as a reminder of how important increasing vaccination rates is to deter new mutations of the virus from emerging.
我们都应该为这种不平等感到难过。（我最近写了一篇
文章，关于弥合疫苗差距以及世界遏制病毒蔓延需要采取的
措施。）至关重要的是，我们需要做更多的工作，让新冠高危人群（包括生活在低收入国家的老年人和免疫力低下者）得以接种疫苗。最近发现的奥密克戎变种病毒提醒人们，提高疫苗接种率对于阻止病毒出现的新变异有多么重要。
But even during this difficult time, I think it’s important to highlight the many Africans who are fighting back against this pandemic. They are stepping up to alleviate suffering, to combat misinformation, and to develop the tools needed to prevent future pandemics.
但即使在这一困难时期，我认为也很有必要强调，许多非洲人正在与大流行作斗争。他们正在加紧努力，以求减轻痛苦，打击错误信息，并开发预防未来大流行所需的工具。
There are thousands of examples of heroic work being done in Africa during this pandemic. Here are three stories of organizations and individuals who are working to save lives and bring hope to their communities.
在这场大流行期间，非洲有成千上万的英雄事迹。以下是三个组织和个人的故事，他们正在努力拯救生命，为他们的社区带来希望。
1. South Africa: The Truck
As COVID-19 swept across South Africa, one of the most pressing needs was access to public health information. People needed to know about the virus and how to stay safe. And as South Africa started rolling out COVID vaccines this year, health officials were also tasked with counteracting the spread of misinformation about the virus and vaccines. This was especially challenging in hard-to-reach communities in South Africa, where people don’t have access to television and other media. But UNICEF, in partnership with the national government, had an answer to this challenge: A truck. Not just any truck but a multi-media messenger on wheels. The truck has LED screens, which allows the truck’s organizer to broadcast videos telling local stories about COVID-19. They also organize presentations in communities to raise awareness of the virus, teach people how to prevent its spread, and promote COVID testing and vaccinations. The truck has logged more than 40,000 miles and delivered messages to hundreds of thousands of people.
当新冠病毒席卷南非时，最迫切的需求之一是获取公共卫生信息。人们需要了解这种病毒是什么以及如何保持安全。随着南非今年开始推广新冠疫苗，卫生官员也有责任遏制有关病毒和疫苗错误信息的传播。这对于南非一些难以到达的社区来说尤其具有挑战性，因为那里的人们无法接触到电视和其他媒体。但联合国儿童基金会与国家政府合作，找到了应对这一挑战的办法：一辆卡车。这不是普通的卡车，而是一辆车轮上的多媒体信使。卡车装有LED屏幕，让组织者能够播放讲述新冠本地故事的视频。他们还在社区组织演讲，以提高人们对新冠病毒的认识，教人们如何防止病毒传播，并促进新冠检测和疫苗接种。这辆卡车已经行驶了4万多英里，向数十万人传递了信息。
图左：这辆卡车是车轮上的多媒体信使，在南非难以到达的社区分享关于新冠肺炎的故事和知识。图右：这辆卡车在南非各地行驶，在当地社区停留，支持新冠检测和疫苗接种工作。
2.Lesotho: Mamello Makhele
Mamello Makhele is a nurse-midwife working to improve health care for women in rural Lesotho, where there are high rates of maternal mortality. During the pandemic lockdowns many health facilities closed, leaving women living in these remote communities without access to family planning services. On foot and by donkey, Mamello travels high into the mountain to offer health care, deliver babies, and distribute contraceptives. Mamello has also worked nationwide to empower young women, encouraging them to take control of their health and prevent unwanted pregnancies. Thanks to her incredible work, many women are healthier today in Lesotho.
马梅罗·马赫勒（音译）是一名护士兼助产士，致力于改善莱索托农村妇女的卫生保健，那里的孕产妇死亡率很高。在大流行封锁期间，许多卫生设施关闭，导致生活在这些偏远社区的妇女无法获得计划生育服务。马梅罗步行或骑驴，深入山区提供卫生保健服务，为婴儿接生，并分发避孕用品。马梅罗还在全国范围内开展工作，让年轻妇女掌握自己的命运，鼓励她们控制自己的健康，防止意外怀孕。多亏了她非凡的工作，如今莱索托的许多妇女变得更加健康了。
图左：马梅罗·马赫勒是一名助产士，在莱索托农村地区（致力于）提升孕产妇健康和福祉。图右：马梅罗·马赫勒鼓励孕妇在卫生机构分娩，为儿童接种疫苗，并提供产后护理。
Even as the world seeks to end the current COVID-19 pandemic, we need to also be thinking about how to prevent future pandemics. That’s just what a mobile app called Afyadata is helping health officials do in Tanzania. Designed by the Southern African Center for Infectious Disease Surveillance (SACIDS), Afyadata is a digital surveillance tool that allows health workers and even ordinary people to serve as disease detectives. Users can report unusual health occurrences not only in humans, but also animals. Monitoring animals is critical because most new pathogens start in animals before they spread and sicken humans. With the app, farmers can easily report any suspicious illness among their livestock to health officials, who can then quickly follow up with further investigation, if necessary. While this app is still being piloted in several districts of Tanzania and other parts of Africa, it has already been effective in the detection and identification of several small disease outbreaks. I look forward to learning more about Afyadata’s progress.
即使世界正在努力结束当前的新冠大流行，我们也需要思考如何预防未来的大流行。这正是一款名为Afyadata的移动应用程序正在帮助坦桑尼亚的卫生官员做的事情。由南部非洲传染病监测中心设计的Afyadata是一款数字监测工具，它允许卫生工作者甚至普通人充当疾病侦探。用户不仅可以报告人类的异常健康状况，还可以报告动物的异常健康状况。监测动物至关重要，因为大多数新病原体在传播和感染人类之前都是来源于动物。有了这个应用程序，农民可以很容易地向卫生官员报告他们牲畜中的任何可疑疾病，如果有必要的话，卫生官员随后可以迅速跟进，进行进一步调查。虽然这一应用程序仍在坦桑尼亚的几个地区和非洲其他地区进行试点，但它已经有效检测并确定几场小型疾病的暴发。我期待了解更多关于Afyadata的进展。
图左：坦桑尼亚的卫生工作者道迪·沙巴安·穆纳（音译）使用Afyadata应用程序报告他所在社区的异常健康事件。图右：Afyadata是一款支持坦桑尼亚卫生官员监测人类和动物疾病暴发的应用程序。
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