Here are a few stories of how Ebola helped Africa prepare for coronavirus

Ebola prompted the World Health Organization to change its emergency response structure, rapid laboratory testing and changing the design of treatment centres

HIV/Aids, Lassa fever, and tuberculosis are just some of the communicable diseases that African health experts are used to dealing with, and many realised the danger of the coronavirus as soon as they saw the cases rising in China and Europe.

Yet, of all the diseases the continent has grappled with, the worst-ever Ebola epidemic that killed more than 11,300 people in West Africa between 2014-16 was instrumental in changing the response to health emergencies in several African nations. Lessons from that outbreak were applied to the Democratic Republic of Congo, which has been grappling with an epidemic since 2018.

Ebola prompted