ABSTRACT
This paper contends that, given the constraints on national responses to the multiple challenges the pandemic poses in sub-Saharan Africa, multilateral organisations, governments from outside the region and private creditors can and must play a key part in helping African governments and the private sector cope. The paper primarily focuses on the provision of finance, but clearly support in other areas, including health, trade and business, matters too. The paper first examines the scale and nature of the crisis, then looks at some of the principles and constraints shaping the design of policy responses to shield health systems, individuals and economies from the immediate impacts (chapter 2). The paper then explores the role that international cooperation and finance can play in enabling more effective national responses (chapter 3), before concluding with a summary of key recommendations (chapter 4).