Coronavirus: Africans improvise sanitisers, masks to plug shortages

Cape Town: When panic over the coronavirus spurred a run on hand sanitiser in Cape Town, businessman Andre Pienaar realised there was something he could do with all the waste alcohol his small distillery produces.

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He had 140 litres of the 70 per cent ethanol waste – called “gin heads” in the trade – just sitting around, so he posted on social media that anyone who needed some could have it for free to turn into the hand wash at home.

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“The response was crazy. It was finished in three hours and there was a limit of one litre per person,” he said. He has now started selling the ethanol his Pienaar and Son Distilling Company is still producing.

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“There is nothing on the shelves for people other than soap at the moment. It is just another option to help protect people,” he said.

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Across Africa, dwindling supplies of sanitiser and surgical masks could prove a boon for entrepreneurs seeking to plug shortages. Amateur chemists in Nigeria and Kenya are mixing up hand wash, while enterprising tailors in Rwanda are sewing their own masks.

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Health officials warn that wearing masks in public won’t protect you from the virus, and say sanitiser only works if it’s more than 60 per cent alcohol – and even then soap and water are better.

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But those warnings have not stopped customers flocking to Alexander Nshimiyimana, a tailor based in Kigali’s main market.

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He is using kitenge, a kaleidoscopic local fabric, to make masks that are not only cheaper but much prettier than the standard hospital-style ones.

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“It is a kind of opportunity to some people to make money.

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It is also (an) opportunity to innovate,” Nshimiyimana said.

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The continent of 1.3 billion has recorded only around 1,100 cases in 43 countries, with 39 deaths, a fraction of the more than 305,000 people infected and more than 13,000 deaths worldwide. But there are concerns that Africa’s health infrastructure could be overrun as the virus spreads.

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“A mask will not protect you from the infection, it will protect others if you wear it from getting infected should you have symptoms. So in this respect also a piece of cloth works,” James Ayodele, spokesman of the Centre for Disease Control (CDC) Africa office.

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Ayodele said that the CDC also advised against making sanitiser at home because it contains alcohol at a potentially dangerous high concentration.

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But Moji Kusanu, a chef in Nigeria’s commercial hub of Lagos, decided to respond to an obvious shortage – after prices shot up to 1,700 naira ($5.55) for a 200ml bottle, from 200 naira before.

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She customised an online sanitiser recipe, which recommended mixing alcohol with aloe vera gel, by adding glycerine for extra moisturising effect.

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“Sometimes, when you are out you cannot wash your hands. Sanitisers can … make a difference,” she said.

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