Disease Pandemics in Africa and Food Security: An Introduction

Purpose: The purpose was to make available the related information to researchers and industry players such as health officials and workers as well as environmentalists in their operational, tactical and strategic operations. Design/Methodology/Approach: Content analysis was employed for this study, with particular reference to a systematic review, relying on manifest content. Twenty years were extensively considered; from 2002 to 2021 using the Microsoft Bing database. The manifest contents of 18 out of 120 research papers were then selected. The documents were manually coded, intensively reviewed and finally analyzed. Findings: The paper found that hundreds of thousands have died in Africa as a result of these pandemics although various interventions have been employed to manage them. These interventions include hand-washing; social distancing; quarantine; face masking; disinfection; personal distancing; lockdowns; enhancement of testing; and vaccination among others. The paper also found that although these interventions, including knockdowns in Africa, were advantageous, they could contribute to negative outcomes such as food insecurity in nations within the continent. Research Limitation/Implications: Manual coding method used has drawbacks though the computer-based analytical technique could have been more efficient because with a greater number of electronic data sets study time could be reduced and also reduce the number of human coders to achieve inter-coder reliability. The study was also limited by dwelling on the only nineteen-year period from 2002 to 2020. Relying on as many documents as possible could be more reliable for studies of this nature. Practical Implication: The paper is intended to guide both industry players and researchers in terms of the techniques available in dealing with disease pandemics regarding the most suitable procedures and techniques in the prevention and treatment of these diseases. Social Implication: The study implies that the information available in this paper when adopted could facilitate the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (Agenda 2030) by making easy accessibility of knowledge relating to the management of present and future pandemics. The study also implies that the most reliable, potent, effective and efficient management technique for pandemics is to vaccinate as many individuals as possible to attain herd immunity among the populace within individual countries in Africa. Originality/Value: The uniqueness of this study lies in the fact that it establishes the characteristic commonalities and differences regarding coverage, mode of transmission, management techniques, and the challenges associated with the most concerned pandemic diseases of recent history.