The simulation ran on African soil. So did the real outbreak, with less attention.
A group set up by Nelson Mandela known as the Elders met in Kenya to model a health emergency, and found much still needs to be done, as the subsequent Ebola outbreak has shown.
While a roomful of "Elders", including former leaders who oversaw decades of extractive policies toward Africa, play pandemic preparedness games in Kenya, real health crises continue ravaging the continent with inadequate global response. The irony is suffocating: the same Western-dominated institutions that routinely underfund African health infrastructure now stage elaborate simulations on African soil, as if the lived reality of Ebola, mpox, and cholera outbreaks weren't lesson enough. Perhaps the continent's health security would be better served by decolonizing these decision-making processes entirely, rather than watching former power brokers cosplay crisis management in Nairobi conference rooms.
While a roomful of "Elders", including former leaders who oversaw decades of extractive policies toward Africa, play pandemic preparedness games in Kenya, real health crises continue ravaging the continent with inadequate global response. The irony is suffocating: the same Western-dominated institutions that routinely underfund African health infrastructure now stage elaborate simulations on African soil, as if the lived reality of Ebola, mpox, and cholera outbreaks weren't lesson enough. Perhaps the continent's health security would be better served by decolonizing these decision-making processes entirely, rather than watching former power brokers cosplay crisis management in Nairobi conference rooms.
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