ABSTRACT
Cities around the world have traditionally dealt with a wide array of natural and human-made risks and hazards. Annually, this results in significant human and economic losses in urban areas. As climate change is expected to further increase the frequency and intensity of adverse events, and other adverse events such as the recent COVID-19 pandemic may also hit cities again in the future, cities around the world increasingly recognize the importance of building on urban resilience to minimize vulnerabilities and enhance resistance, absorption, recovery and adaptation capacities. The rapid advances in smart city solutions enabled by information and communication technologies have also provided cities with more tools and opportunities to deal with adverse events. There is a vast body of literature on both smart city and urban resilience. However, the concept of smart city resilience has received limited attention in the literature. To fill this gap, in this chapter, we first provide overviews of the underlying principles of the smart city and urban resilience concepts. Next, we explain how adopting integrated approaches that simultaneously consider both smartness and resilience can help cities take more effective and efficient efforts toward dealing with adverse events, enhancing quality of life and ensuring transition toward sustainable development. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
ABSTRACT
The debate around the COVID-19 response in Africa has mostly focused on effects and implications of public health measures, in light of the socio-economic peculiarities of the continent. However, there has been limited exploration of the impact of differences in epidemiology of key comorbidities, and related healthcare factors, on the course and parameters of the pandemic. We summarise what is known about (a) the pathophysiological processes underlying the interaction of coinfections and comorbidities in shaping prognosis of COVID-19 patients, (b) the epidemiology of key coinfections and comorbidities, and the state of related healthcare infrastructure that might shape the course of the pandemic, and (c) implications of (a) and (b) for pandemic management and post-pandemic priorities. There is a critical need to generate empirical data on clinical profiles and the predictors of morbidity and mortality from COVID-19. Improved protocols for acute febrile illness and access to diagnostic facilities, not just for SARS-CoV-2 but also other viral infections, are of urgent importance. The role of malaria, HIV/TB and chronic malnutrition on pandemic dynamics should be further investigated. Although chronic non-communicable diseases account for a relatively lighter burden, they have a significant effect on COVID-19 prognosis, and the fragility of care delivery systems implies that adjustments to clinical procedures and re-organisation of care delivery that have been useful in other regions are unlikely to be feasible. Africa is a large region with local variations in factors that can shape pandemic dynamics. A one-size-fits-all response is not optimal, but there are broad lessons relating to differences in epidemiology and healthcare delivery factors, that should be considered as part of a regional COVID-19 response framework.