The White Paper reflects on innovations being developed on the continent to support effective communication both by governments and the private sector. Public sensitisation has been primarily driven by mobile applications who serve the dual function of contact tracing and sensitisation. Governments have also leveraged social media as knowledge dissemination avenues, particularly for the youth. Immediate responses to the pandemic require a gendered narrative to support equity. It goes without saying that pandemics and state of emergencies further increase inequalities in societies and challenges that arise are felt exponentially by the
least empowered. The White Paper thus explored the gender considerations of the pandemic, highlighting the importance of integrating a gender analysis into public health emergency preparedness and response since women play a predominant role as informal carers in the home and frontline health workers.