Reflection on Botswana and Malawi's Covid-19 Vulnerability Risks Factors: Towards Equity Interventions

This project is an urgent response to a rapidly evolving global health pandemic, COVID19. While impacting the whole world, it is experienced by communities in Africa in vastly different ways. The proposed study will investigate and document the distinct and diverse vulnerability factors of Botswana and Malawi. There are many factors to consider when looking at vulnerabilities to COVID-19. Besides the aggregated HDI and population numbers, these include gender, race, disability, social-economic demographics, income, ethnicity and concomitant non communicable diseases. Experiences and evidence-based lessons link these factors to COVID-19 fatalities. The scale of COVID-19 infections and challenges is expectedly different in Botswana and Malawi. As of June 12, 2020, Botswana had 48 confirmed positive cases, 24 recoveries, 18 transferred out, 5 active cases and one death while Malawi recorded 481 confirmed positive cases, 65 recoveries, 412 active cases, and 4 confirmed deaths. The Lancet publication, "Redefining vulnerability in the era of COVID-19", brought to light that the strategies of social distancing and frequent hand washing are not easy for the millions of people who live in unplanned crowded settlements, low income communities and those insecure housing, and poor sanitation and access to clean water. These challenges are played out differently in these two countries involved. Furthermore, Botswana and Malawi provide contrasts in terms of Human Development Index (HDI) and populations. Botswana has a HDI of 0.717 and a population of 2,351,627, while Malawi has an HDI of 0.477and population of 19,129,952 (World Population Review, 2020). Another contrast is in the management of COVID-19 in the two countries. This study intends to provide an assessment of COVID 19 risk factors associated with gender, race, disability, social-economic demographics, income, ethnicity and concomitant non communicable diseases. The proposed study is innovative in adopting an integrated or mixed approach of classical research inquiries such as ethnography and phenomenology, from the qualitative approaches and the day-to-day communication of Africa indigenous communities such as story-telling. As well, quantitative approaches that use descriptive data, t-test and regression shall be used. The main target shall be those who have experienced the COVID-pandemic and can provide information on COVID-related deaths like village leaders and relatives. This initiative will support interconnectivity, a plurality of perspectives, and a more balanced response to COVID-19, as well as inform related responses. Expected Outputs The main outputs are as follows:  Detailed inception report with action plans.  Detailed analysis report outlining vulnerability to CORONA VIRUS as it relates to gender, race, disability, social-economic demographics, income, ethnicity and concomitant non communicable diseases.  Critical literature review report  Digital artefacts, e.g, audio narratives to written accounts and stories, images, and materials.  Academic articles analysing the complexities and insights provided by the research in the context of the pandemic; regional policy recommendations in each country informed by a contextualised body of evidence.  Media outputs in the form of newspaper articles, blogs, and social media to increase the broader visibility of this work; and a published volume of work