The Politics of Inequity: Science, Transparency and Travel Bans

A statement by several African policy leaders criticizing the imposition of unilateral travel bans on Southern Africa following the detection of a COVID-19 variant, arguing that such measures are ineffective, economically damaging, and ignore the systemic inequities in global vaccine distribution.

• The rapid imposition of travel bans on Southern Africa occurred before the variant was discussed at the WHO and failed to stop the pandemic's spread, as the virus was already present in countries like the UK, Germany, Belgium, and The Netherlands, the latter of which detected the virus as early as 19 November.
• Travel bans have caused significant economic harm to the region, including an immediate loss of approximately $62 million in Christmas season travel bookings, compounding existing record unemployment rates in South Africa.
• There is a stark disparity in vaccination rates between Africa (6.66%), Europe (66%), and North America (67.5%), with South Africa specifically having vaccinated 23.66% of its population. The document asserts that these inequalities in production and distribution contribute to the mutation of the virus.
• A proposal for a temporary WTO waiver on intellectual property rights for vaccines, jointly sponsored by South Africa and India in October 2020 and supported by over 100 countries, has stalled due to opposition from a few pharmaceutical-producing advanced economies, despite current US support.
• The authors argue that the global response should shift from unilateral travel bans to decentralizing vaccine manufacturing and transferring know-how to developing countries, as the COVAX facility was overly dependent on a single supply source, the Serum Institute in India.

APA

AKUM, F., MTHEMBU, P., SIDIROPOULOS, E., AGGAD, F., ABIMBOLA, O., BELLO, O., & OWUSU-GYAMFI, M. (2021). The Politics of Inequity: Science, Transparency and Travel Bans. South African Institute of International Affairs. https://saiia.org.za/research/the-politics-of-inequity-science-transparency-and-travel-bans/

Chicago

AKUM, Fonteh, Philani MTHEMBU, Elizabeth SIDIROPOULOS, Faten AGGAD, Olumide ABIMBOLA, Ola BELLO, and Mavis OWUSU-GYAMFI. The Politics of Inequity: Science, Transparency and Travel Bans. South African Institute of International Affairs, 2021. https://saiia.org.za/research/the-politics-of-inequity-science-transparency-and-travel-bans/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=AKUM |first1=Fonteh |last2=MTHEMBU |first2=Philani |last3=SIDIROPOULOS |first3=Elizabeth |last4=AGGAD |first4=Faten |last5=ABIMBOLA |first5=Olumide |last6=BELLO |first6=Ola |last7=OWUSU-GYAMFI |first7=Mavis |title=The Politics of Inequity: Science, Transparency and Travel Bans |publisher=South African Institute of International Affairs |date=2 December 2021 |url=https://saiia.org.za/research/the-politics-of-inequity-science-transparency-and-travel-bans/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{akum2021politics, author = {AKUM, Fonteh and MTHEMBU, Philani and SIDIROPOULOS, Elizabeth and AGGAD, Faten and ABIMBOLA, Olumide and BELLO, Ola and OWUSU-GYAMFI, Mavis}, title = {{The Politics of Inequity: Science, Transparency and Travel Bans}}, publisher = {South African Institute of International Affairs}, year = {2021}, month = dec, url = {https://saiia.org.za/research/the-politics-of-inequity-science-transparency-and-travel-bans/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }