Kevin Bardosh sits down with Sosso Feindouno, a researcher based in France with FERDI (Foundation pour les Etude et Recherche sur les Development Internationale). Dr. Feindouno, along with colleagues, published a recent paper in Social Science and Medicine, where they modelled increases in excess mortality in Africa driven by the socio-economic consequences of lockdown in 2020. We discuss the paper, which is entitled Covid-19's Death Transfer to Sub-Saharan Africa, as well his views on how African scientists and policymakers experienced the pandemic and its policy responses. We end by discussing the role of international organisations in lockdown and what needs to change in future pandemic responses.