As projections and fears rise about how COVID-19 will impact sub-saharan Africa, South Africa has instituted an early and strict lockdown. This presentation will examine the current public health situation in South Africa, the government response, and how the virus is being managed. Additionally we will discuss the debate around the continued lockdown in the country and how it will impact the already fragile economy and health infrastructure.

​Jackie Curnick holds a Master of Sustainable Development Practice with a graduate certificate in African Studies from the University of Florida. Her professional work lies at the intersection of community development, environmental health and communications. In 2015 she was awarded a Fulbright grant to work in an at-risk high school in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. Since then, she has continued relationships with this country and community. Jackie currently works at UI College of Public Health where she coordinates the community engagement core of the Environmental Health Sciences Research Center, and is a member of the CPH Global Public Health Committee.

Will is Co-Director of the Baker Teacher Leader Center in the UI College of Education with a particular focus on Global Community Education Initiatives, a new effort to internationalize in the College of Education. He was a classroom teacher of German in Iowa City, and in Wuppertal, Germany, prior to the College of Education at Iowa. He has presented on teacher education and professional development internationally and nationally. He is the co-author of three books with Rebecca Anthony on professional development and career advancement in both K12 and higher education. 

Luana holds a degree in public relations and advertisements from the University of Istanbul. She currently works at Tiniguena, an NGO in Guinea-Bissau that works with biodiversity, where she assists with communication, youth, and civic duty. She hopes to start her own company and run it with the values of environment and sustainable development at its core.

South Africa’s long struggle to transcend Apartheid has been widely documented, both pre- and post-democracy (1994), with an enduring focus on figures such as the late Dr. Nelson Mandela and the late Dr. Walter Sisulu. Less well-known are the stories of the women comrades of the African National Congress, activists or loyal wives, or both, whose lives and losses have drawn too little notice.