Minister of Information and Communications Technology, Judith Nabakooba, has applauded President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni and the health ministry for braving the fight and championing the battle against the deadly Covid -19 pandemic.
The Minister recently took to her social media platforms and commended the president and the health team after a report was published on CNN by a global research company, Lancent earlier this week ranking Uganda 10th and the 1st in Africa in combating the Covid-19 virus.
“I congratulate His Excellency President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, Dr Jane Ruth Aceng & your team at the Ministry of Health for the noble recognition by Lancet Covid-19 Commission data.Thank you for providing strategic guidance and technical support which has enabled us to reach this level,” she posted.
After Uganda got recognized as the best country in Africa for the efforts to suppress the COVID-19 epidemic, the Permanent Secretary to the ministry of Health Dr Diana Atwine as well took to her social media pages to congratulate and thank her teams; the front line workers.
“Communicating bad news is a difficult task but we constantly had to get out even when it meant risking demoralizing the nation but we have a duty to communicate with transparency. And that has proved the vital antidote to this risk,” Dr Diana Atwine said recently at the Health Ministry.
However,for President Museveni his proactive response and outrageous fight against pandemics in this country is not a new phenomenon either.
The President’s current fight against Covid-19 is similar to the response he took against the AIDS pandemic back in the late 1980s and early 1990s when he showed the world through pioneering high-level political leadership that it was possible to reverse the AIDS epidemic, and for many years, new HIV infections declined in Uganda.
Due to his proactive behavior to pandemics, President Museveni, ordered a blanket lockdown much earlier than the other countries regardless of the few cases that had been registered. By 31stMarch 2020, Uganda was under total lockdown with restricted local and international movements yet it had only 11 registered cases countrywide which flattened the curve for a significant amount of time.
This, in addition to other factors, even before the report by Lancent was published Uganda has been in the eyes of many considered to be a success story in the fight against COVID-19.
However it must also be remembered that, Uganda was hit at a much later stage as compared to the other countries on the continent such as South Africa, Egypt, Kenya, and Rwanda. This gave the country time to prepare should the pandemic hit.
There was also the fact that there was little resistance by nationals to the lockdown, especially in the early days. Much as there was a bit of grumbling and controversies especially from the economic perspective, horrific images of the COVID19’s magnitude in countries like Italy and the city of Wuhan in China circulating on the internet created a sense of trepidation of the pandemic among Ugandans before it hit.
The abundance and distribution of food made the lockdown possible. Uganda as it is, the country has never experienced a period of extreme hunger because of the fertile soils and favorable climate to support its agriculture. Therefore, on average every Ugandan can be able to access a meal a day. When the lockdown was announced by the President at the end of March 2020, many people were in fear of going into a period of extreme hunger. The government had to, therefore, put up an initiative; COVIDUGFOODRELIEF spearheaded by the Ugandan Army with support from individual personnel, the World Food Program, and Red Cross to solicit and distribute nutritious food to the most vulnerable groups of people.
This was especially in the central urban districts of the country such as Wakiso and Kampala where people don’t have land to practice agriculture for food. In rural areas where arable land is abundant, hunger is just a myth.
Every ban, restriction, and the anti-COVID19 measure was aggressively implemented and followed. Impulse buying of sanitary products such as sanitizers, gloves, and face masks was noticed as every individual tried to take all the necessary precautions not to catch the virus.
Tight anti-COVID19 measures and restrictions were implemented by the Ugandan government in the attempt to contain the spread of the virus. Much as social distancing in the country’s populous cities such as Kampala was a mere privilege because of the slum urban landscape, a plan had to be devised.
By the end of March 2020, local food markets had to only operate after implementing a social distancing policy allowing 4 meters to the right, left, front and rare between buyer and seller, seller and buyer.
Public transport was banned, social gatherings of more than 5 people were prohibited, a curfew was introduced from 7:00 pm to 6:30 am which but later adjusted to 9:00 pm to 5:30 am and every Ugandan was expected to stay indoors, except for cargo transporters. This tremendously helped to curb the spread of the virus and easily track and trace the cases that could be within the public.
The nature of Uganda’s population has been such a success drive factor. 60% of the country’s population is below the age of 30 thus a relatively low mortality rate. The nature of this virus pretty much affects elderly people and the death rates are much higher in these groups that have Non-Communicable diseases(NCDs) such as diabetes, hypertension, and other cardiac issues which are diseases of affluence. In Uganda, diseases of poverty such as malaria are much bigger an issue and the country has been long prepared.
The dichotomous nature of Uganda’s populace has enabled the economy to systematically bounce back amidst the pandemic
As the country starts to reopen, it has been easier for the small business community to start up again because they need less initial capital startup making the economy bounce back easily.
The World Bank approved $300 million to support the Ugandan government in the economic recovery initiative and treating COVID19 patients.
