As countries globally battle to contain the coronavirus pandemic, some African governments naturally have their ears and begging bowls to global western governments for solutions. Unfortunately, some African governments have folded theirs arms waiting for the masters of epistemology to give direction, while others are busy copy pasting what is working in the global western economies without trying out contextual solutions. However, some pro-active African countries have managed to take the bull by its horns by encouraging local institutions not to stay idle, but contribute to searching for diverse solutions, big or small to save and reconstruct meaningful lives for the local population.
A university in Uganda has designed and produced a hands-free water and soap dispenser to use in the coronavirus pandemic period instead of waiting for China to deliver finished products. South Africa has designed and produced mobile testing laboratories for mass testing of the virus to cover a huge population within a short period. Ghana has introduced free electricity, water and a tax holiday. The direction that African countries must take is searching for local sustainable solutions than waiting for them to come from the global west when the global west is equally facing unprecedented challenges. Kudos to the Zambian Ministry of Education that has engaged the Zambia National Broadcasting Cooperation to generate a special TV station specifically to beam live class lessons in different school subjects. However, more of such innovative forward thinking is needed, especially for pupils in rural areas that do not have access to TV sets or the internet.
temporarily legalising Kachasu so that it can be used as a hand-sanitizer material for people that do not have access to clean water, soap, or any other factory tailored alcohol based hand rub
Unprecedented times calls for unprecedented measures. With the value of the Kwacha weakening against the powerful global west currencies such as the US dollar, essential preventive material in the pandemic period like hand-sanitizers are not only getting scarce, but also becoming almost unaffordable for ordinary Zambians. However, it is becoming common knowledge that alcohol based hand sanitizers are a good alternative in the absence of soap and clean water. Meanwhile Kachasu, although illegal, is readily available behind the scenes in most under-served communities in both the rural and the urban towns in Zambia.
Against this background, the Zambian government should consider temporarily legalising Kachasu so that it can be used as a hand-sanitizer material for people that do not have access to clean water, soap, or any other factory tailored alcohol based hand rub. However, this initiative should go with a deliberate awareness programme on the safer ways to brew, and later use Kachasu as a coronavirus preventive material. The local universities and other ordinary laboratories could be engaged in giving informed guidance on the nontoxic methods of producing Kachasu for use as a hand-sanitizer substitute. This process will not only save lives from the coronavirus, but also give the much needed economic empowerment to families and individuals involved in distilling it.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) warns people against excessive alcohol consumption during the pandemic because it may weaken their immune system, a counsel that must be taken seriously by everyone. However, public health officials, and other social development experts should be in the forefront to develop a useful guide in consultation with the locals on how to utilise local knowledge and locally available resources. The idea of shooting down locally produced knowledge without giving it an opportunity for testing should be condemned. In these unprescented times of the coronavirus, any knowledge that can combat the virus must be tried, and Africa should stand to taste its’ knowledge without the fear for the western epistemologists who always want to lead, and mostly demonise African possible solutions.
African universities should join in the search for the cure and other related interventions, as the various responsible institutions consult locals to generate names for the coronavirus in local languages for easy understanding of its’ social impact on the local populations. After all, African countries, Zambia inclusive have learned so much from tackling epidemics such as HIV/AIDS, Cholera and Ebola that should be put to good use as Africa faces the impact of just another virus. However, what is fundamental for most African countries based on the experiences from the previous epidemics is that, local communities must take the centre stage in responding. This is no abracadabra but reality, as infectious disease outbreaks have a common tendency of developing differently in different communities, usually based on contextual social conditions that only local people may recognise.
Therefore, most control measures such as lockdowns should not just be imposed on local communities as such, like the case with Kafue, but locals should be consulted in offering local knowledge and alternative options. Affected people should fully be involved in the planning and implementation of local measures if epidemics and pandemics have to be contained more effectively. Already in Kafue, local people are pinpointing on the possible social network that the first victim had outside of Kafue town, which makes the work for the medical authorities easier. The dominant social behaviours in each community are key factors in fighting epidemics, and only ordinary local people would be aware of such. Authorities can of course build their prevention models based only on assumptions and general social patterns, but only the real locals know what these practically entail for their particular circumstances.
Consequently, unlike in the global west, it is clear that each community in Africa will have to design its own unique response based on local needs and social behaviours. In most Zambian communities for example, greeting inlaws goes with a very respectable social and physical distancing that authorities should take advantage of when making local awareness programmes. This is something communities already practice, and can only be re-emphasised to encompass a wider scope. The same goes to washing hands, most African communities are already aware of this because of the experiences from other epidemics. Therefore, the awareness programmes should focus more on completely unknown knowledge that communities need to know.
Comparing African coronavirus deaths to Italy’s high mortality rates, it can be attributed to a large proportion of elderly people, as 23% of the population in Italy is over the age of 65. In contrast, less than 2% of Africa’s population is over 65. Based on this, the virus’ mortality rate may be lower on the continent, giving room for African governments to prepare adequately, with local communities fully involved.
Against this background, African governments should avoid abrupt general lockdowns. General lockdowns simply do not fit into the African context, except for a few stable economies that may cope with the gravity of destabilising the entire economic and social system, and rebut it again within a short period. In lockdowns, an ordinary citizen is most hit, as most African governments do not have social welfare systems and fail to administer any centralised strategy to cater for the most hit by the spinoffs of the lockdown. It is common knowledge that for the people living on hand to mouth basis like street vendors, reliant on daily flow of cash to buy food and services, a few days’ lockdown may be the difference between life and death. Lockdowns are also very difficult for people already suffering hardships of unemployment whose survival is provided by friends and relatives through our African ‘Ubuntu’ culture. So, if a lockdown cuts these social ties, adversity becomes destitution, and destitution can lead to civil disobedience, further contravening the implementation of workable pandemic control measures.
Therefore, if basic livelihoods cannot be guaranteed, a complete lockdown is not feasible, as poor people will prefer the gamble of infection to the certainty of starvation. Governments should act with urgency, but act locally by considering local contexts, respecting local knowledge, utilising local resources like Kachasu as a hand sanitizer, improvised prevention material etc. Already, there is a global shortage of prevention material and a shameful scramble among developed countries to get their own supplies – lowering Africa to the back of the queue. On daily supplies, markets, especially for fresh produce must be kept running to avoid starvation, as market goers in conjunction with local leadership devise common prevention modalities such as better hygiene. As a result, local communities and other local stakeholders must be consulted, especially in the rural areas. Authorities such as the Police and the Politicians should therefore avoid treating ordinary people as the problem, but as part of the solution through robust contextual awareness programmes.
By Kabanda Mwansa
The author is a Zambian social commentator and a PhD research fellow in the Faculty of Social Sciences at Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences.
This is misleading. The alcohol percentage found in beverages is too low for disinfection. A learned person like you should research before publishing
Kabanada out of touch and looking very 1diotic with this article
What is also misleading is the editor’s decision to give us a picture of Chibuku insinuating it is Kachasu. These are two different brews Kachasu is illegal and Chibuku is perfectly legal
Very good uncommon thinking. We need to take advantage of local solutions than too much depending on the west to think about us when they are equally mu ndoti!!
Makes sence, people in the ghetto cant be waiting for politician to donate the hand sanitizers and branded masks, let the people use what they have available in their hands. A piece of bread is better than non. China wont manage to cater for the Zambian poor communities. Its time to get local policies suit the current situation.
Which University will find those solutions here in Zambia? They closed the Uni’s.
Well, the title is quite misleading, nut the content is powerful!! Very informative and well tailored for Africa to take and act.
“greeting inlaws goes with a very respectable social and physical distancing that authorities should take advantage of when making local awareness programmes” This is golden, well researched.
This article does not apply to Zambia because we have taken our own action in the fight against covid 19. I can see the writer is one of those diasporans in Norway trained to despise his own birth country by his colonial adopted fathers there. Can the writer tell us the statistics of deaths in Europe from covid 19 vs those in Africa? I find it stupid that he thinks we Africans are waiting to be saved by people in Europe who have failed to manage the virus. The kachaso point is a bit daft because there is no need to associate it with that name. We are very much capable of manufacturing alcohol in Zambia and we have been doing it even before the writer was born. The writer has been away from Zambia for too long and is suffering from an identity crisis. Kz
This is what I call a homegrown solution. We can lead in this. Throw off the dangerous methanol and proceed to process the ethanol and other useful ones for disinfecting. Well said mwe.
Ba KZ fimbi mwatashako, dont live in a bubble, I think the writer has very valued points that must be taken seriously. If you are a real exposed Zambian, you will realise that it is a lot of remote communities in Zambia lacking prevention material that might just benefit from this input if well explored as the writer has suggested. Kachaso is there in most Zambian communities, and you will never eradicate it, So if its useful in the fight against corona, then let it be explored.
WE shall lose a lot of people if that one can be adopted. Kachasu is very harmful and those supporting that, there interest is to drink Kachasu it and not to use it as sanitizer. therefore Kachasu must remain banned in zambia
My point is that the writer failed to tell us the alcohol percentage of kachasu to be used as hand sanitizer. According to the expert, recommended alcohol content above 75% is ok. You people who are doing researches explain to us in details don’t just come out with ex-buzz rethoric here. We need proven experiments
If this is how a PhD scholar thinks leave me out of this education system of yours. Kachasu is never brewed for hand sanitising. It’s brewed for the purpose of drinking. If you legalize it you are saying to all its drinkers go and drink it. Locally made sanitisers aren’t reliant upon the legalisation of Kachasu.
Why it is illegal is because Kachasu s alcohol content is in fact higher than that of the sanitisers. Sometimes it can hit 300 percent. In fact there’s nothing fantastic about how kachasu is brewed. It’s a simple distillation and condensation process that all of us who did o level chemistry did in school. A local hand sanitiser will need standards kachasu does not have standard formula
I agree with you KZ on the writer’s identity crisis but is aware what’s going on in African countries in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. However Kabanda Mwansa raises cardinal issues with regards to methodolidies in addressing the solutions to this pandemic. Mainly solutions will be based on guidance from science and medical advice. For instance do we have competent epidemiologists to guide alcohol distillers in Zambia into research to acquire local senitizers or design of locally produced PPE. These are legitimate concerns that can not just be glossed over and return to politics as usual. Politics is not an end in itself, this is why political fools have come and gone the human issues that demand answers still remain.
Munadekh now this is what I love to see. Constructive debate. You raise some valid points there. Indeed we have highly qualified specialists in these areas. Of course not as many as in the western world. This is where we would also rely and tap into the knowledge and skills of those in diaspora willing to contribute to such developments in their country of birth. We have industries here making soaps, disinfectants etc so I don’t see how this can be an impossible project for us to do. Kz
Internet KZ is on point on this one, keep up, welcome to critical thinking my dear.
Madilu System, I think the writer has categorically stated that experts in this field like universities can guide. It is not the writters interest as a social scientist to duel into the amount of ethanol or alcohol etc. His/her points are clear and straight forward.
Using kachasu as a hand sanitizer should be strongly DISCOURAGED and in the strongest terms.
A typical hand sanitizer will contain 70% ethyl alcohol or isopropyl, 10% glycerine, 10% aqua (HCI + HNO3), 5% carbomer and 5% amines. The additional compounds to 70% of either ethyl alcohol or isopropyl are what makes an industrial manufactured hand sanitizer effective against all manner of pathogens.
Our homemade kachasu which at first distillation is usually 95% + ethyl alcohol. At this percentage, alcohol doesn’t work that well due to quick evaporation. The quick evaporation will make last less than 15 seconds on the hands. The second reason is, an alcohol just anywhere above 85% makes it ineffective against fighting viruses because the higher concentration in alcohol percentage makes the…
Ifyo fya kachasu nee noo. Me I find you, I just beat. I told the police to arrest you after I whip. No drinking at open ariyaz. B Lusambo
cont’d
The second reason is, an alcohol just anywhere above 85% makes it ineffective against fighting viruses because the higher concentration in alcohol percentage makes the lipid bilayer of a virus to harden – meaning the virus won’t be inactivated. If one only has kachasu to sanitize hands then one SHOULD rub kachasu on hands for a minimum of 2 minutes. Viruses get deactivated once the lipid bilayer is destroyed.
FYI, the reason kachasu is effective at preventing cholera is because cholera is caused by a bacterium – bacteria being living organisms easily die from alcohol.
@Hon. Bowman Chilosha Lusambo. Your Gravatar address says Tarino Orange with just a display name change to B Lusambo. en.gravatar.com/tarinoorange
Instead of campaigning for its legalization the author should have urged for a research on how the brewing of Kachasu would help in locally producing a sanitiser
Bunsen……. and that is exactly what the writer is advocating, involving experts to guide!! Read before you jump to conclusions!!
Kachasu as a hand sanitizer good idea but our government i doubt to support it they like cheap Chinese imports.
I AM REALLY GLAD THE WRITER DID NOT SUGGEST WE DEVELOP Kachasu/o INTO A VACCINATION….ha ha ha, just kill everyone before covid-19 does!
Just for the record, and clarity, Kachasu/o has been brewed illegally in many countries and illegal in all of them with good reason! In America during prohibition, when alcohol was banned, the criminals/alcoholics brewed it and called it MOONSHINE it was served in underground bars called speakeasies which law enforcers regularly raided with trounchens like Bowman Lusambo is doing now.
As an idea, it’s hilarious, I wondered if it was April Fool’s day….for a moment there. PLEASE NOTE scientists have already said alcohol rubs are NOT as EFFECTIVE as HAND WASHING WITH SOAP AND WATER (so back to the drawing board with that one).
Nampundu you haven read Bunsen’s post