Abstract:
In 2020, COVID-19 started spreading from Wuhan in China to the USA, the UK and Europe and then to the rest of the
world. In Africa, the first case of COVID-19 was reported in Egypt on 14 February, while South Africa’s first case was
identified on 5 March. On 11 March, the World Health Organization declared a pandemic. At the time, it was said that
COVID-19 would become the great equaliser because the virus made no distinction between first and third world
countries, between the rich and the poor, and nor was it influenced by gender, sexual orientation or race. When
someone contracted SARS-CoV-2, no guarantee could be given that the patient would survive, regardless of who
they were or their status in the community.
This stood in contrast to the early experience of AIDS before antiretrovirals existed and when HIV was spreading
like wildfire in sub-Saharan Africa and other countries with low or lower-middle-income status. It seemed as if these
countries were doubly cursed — by poverty and the AIDS pandemic that was causing as many as 6 000 mortalities
per day in sub-Saharan Africa. This led to the South African president at the time, Thabo Mbeki, to assert that
poverty was an even greater problem than HIV and AIDS.
It did not take long to see that COVID-19 was not the anticipated equaliser. As lockdowns were enforced within most
countries across the globe and resulting in economic slumps, differences between rich and poorer countries and
their respective citizens were thrown into sharp relief once again. This article reports how both AIDS and COVID-19
adversely affected women, the impoverished and those without access to sustainable souces of food and medicine.
