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Published:
Mar 31, 2025DOI:
10.4314/mlr.v19i1.5Keywords:
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Main Article Content
Tanzania’s and South African Laws for Preventing and Controlling Pandemics: Comparative Analysis and Lessons from COVID-19
Elia Mwanga
Abstract
The outbreak of pandemics causes significant negative impacts on the social, political and economic life of a country’s population. Thus having in place measures, including effective legal framework to prevent and control pandemics is unavoidable. Legal frameworks create an enabling environment for effective and timely prevention, preparedness for, response to, and recovery from pandemics. The emergency of COVID-19 demonstrated this need. The implementation of measures to address COVID-19 in many countries has raised issues relating to the effectiveness of their legal frameworks for preventing and controlling pandemics. This article uses the International Health Regulations of 2005 to analyze the legal frameworks of Tanzania and South Africa in order to determine their adequacy for preventing and controlling pandemic outbreaks. The article draws experience from COVID-19 pandemic, borrowing lessons from legal measures that were implemented by the governments of the two countries to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. The article argues that, when compared with Tanzania, the laws of South Africa are better in preventing and controlling pandemics. In particular, the legal framework in South Africa provides broad participation of stakeholders from the bottom to the national level in pandemics decision-making. Moreover, South Africa’s legal framework enhances greater transparency and accountability.
