ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses how the emergence of the global health security norm of the COVID-19 pandemic has played out as a threat to West African security – the appearance of the foreign virus. This is in line with previous epidemics, such as Ebola. The predominant reported weakness in West African national responses was a pervasive lack of trust in government institutions and mistrust up to the highest level of government in Liberia and Sierra Leone. This chapter aims to assess the impact of the new global heath security norm on West Africa’s own identity. As was the case with Ebola, with COVID-19 several communities initially refused to believe that the virus outbreak was real, judging it to be part of a conspiracy by Europe and the international community.
