Prioritizing health and education in the first round of negotiations for services liberalization within the African Continental Free Trade Area

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic is expected to continue into the foreseeable future, until reliable therapies and vaccines are identified. The Agreement Establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area, which entered into force in May 2019, must be leveraged both as a tool to promote economic integration and as a stimulus package for continental economic recovery. As a matter of urgency, African countries will need to put in place measures to mitigate the adverse socioeconomic repercussions of the pandemic. Health sector services, including diagnostics, medical services and activities conducted by researchers, will prove critical in that regard. The negative repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic have also extended to the education sector. Schools across the continent closed their doors, disrupting the education of millions of students from primary to tertiary levels. To help students continue to learn, alternative learning methods have been adopted, including the use of online learning platforms and educational radio and television channels. This brief highlights why it is imperative to address health and education in the first round of negotiations on the liberalization of services within the African Continental Free Trade Area. Robust and effective health and education sectors are extremely important for the socioeconomic development and wellbeing of Africans and for realizing the continent’s industrial and integration ambitions.