That was my last moment of relative freedom before the Covid-19 pandemic struck South Africa. It was far too early to know what this new outbreak would mean for South Africa or anywhere else, but if anywhere had any answers, Eshowe would. Eshowe had been a centre of the HIV crisis in South Africa, one of the worst hit nations in the world. One legacy of South Africa’s long battle with HIV and tuberculosis is its wealth of top-class epidemiologists and extensive community health networks. But one thing the pandemic could not stop was the collective life and energy of a billion or so people.

Source: The Guardian September 06, 2020 16:52 UTC