Introduction

A broad range of region-wide organizations exist in Latin America and sub-Saharan Africa, some of which have a specifically health-related remit, such as the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) or the West African Health Organization (WAHO) and the East, Central and South Africa Health Community (ECSA). Others focus on trade and development such as the Common Market of the South (MERCOSUR) and the Andean Community in Latin America, and the Regional Economic Communities (REC) in sub-Saharan Africa which include the East African Community (EAC), Southern African Development Community (SADC) and Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). Other organizations have come into existence to promote regional autonomy and political cooperation, such as the African Union, or share knowledge and expertise, such as ECLAC. Despite their differences – and the challenges in maintaining unified approaches in regions that are characterized as much by difference as similarity – these organizations have become increasingly important, especially since the 1990s. They now aspire to act as a channel downwards into states and try to shape government policy through expert technical knowledge, and to enable regional states to talk collectively to international organizations, including UN bodies and international health and development organizations such as the WHO. In some cases, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, regional organizations also have acquired the authority to dialogue directly with donors in the areas of economic development and health. For all of them, the onset of COVID-19 presented a health and governance challenge like no other. It has tested their capacities to the limits in terms of supporting member states through a crisis which, in most cases, has affected all countries in the regions simultaneously.

Early in the pandemic, there was an overwhelming recognition within regional organizations that the pandemic would not only bring shared health challenges, but would also represent an unprecedented socio-economic emergency, with costs distributed unevenly across societies and with a significant differential impact on the lives of men and women. To differing extents, therefore, regional organizations in both Latin America and sub-Saharan Africa were able to recognize the gendered implications of lockdown, social distancing policies and economic recession and sought to encourage governments to act quickly to take gender seriously.