Tunisia’s COVID-19 crisis is not of its own making

Not only the incompetence of local authorities but also the West’s moral failures are behind the crisis in Tunisia.

In the last few weeks, with the rise of the Delta variant across the world, Tunisia has been gripped by another COVID-19 surge. The reported total death toll of more than 20,000 is harrowing in a country of about 12 million people. It is now the country with the highest coronavirus mortality rate per capita in the MENA region and in Africa. The pandemic-hit North African nation, however, is not the only country struggling to respond effectively to this public health emergency. As the number of COVID-19 cases continues to rise across the Global South, many developing countries suffering from poor governance, overstretched hospitals and low vaccination rates are also experiencing pandemic related catastrophes similar to the one currently under way in Tunisia.