Coronavirus: Fate has offered us an opportunity let's fine-tune our response

By Mary Karooro Okurut

Fate might just be the only thing distinguishing us from our neighbours right now — in as far as the dreaded coronavirus is concerned.

Already, the presence of declared cases of persons diagnosed with coronavirus in countries neighbouring Uganda is discomforting enough.

In a matter of days, Kenya now has seven cases, Rwanda has eight and Congo has four. Notwithstanding the fact that these cases in the neighbourhood had not had any sojourn in Uganda, the gloom is too close for comfort.

In fact, it is not so much about Uganda's proximity to our neighbours that brings the likelihood of infection close to reality; it is the fact that Uganda is not much different from her neighbours in terms of location, political, social and economic status.

The issue is no longer a health matter; it is a multifaceted challenge. The experiences from the countries that are currently in lockdown show how it progressed from a health issue to affect all other aspects of life.

The virus has affected the economy with businesses closing down, tourism reducing, airlines cancelling flights; sporting events cancelled, customers quarantined, etc.

In Italy, the seat of the Catholic Church, religious gatherings have been suspended. In a neighbouring country, even funeral gatherings have been grossly restricted.

Therefore, it is wise of us, as a country, to grab this opportunity that fate has offered us to fine-tune our response to this global pandemic.

As a country, we need to examine and re-examine the following issues in order for us to say that the global experience has provided a learning curve for us:
-President Yoweri Museveni and the Government have to be commended for not waiting to record the first case of coronavirus and start running around for strategies of how to deal with it. The President has consistently sent out messages on precautionary measures on how to avoid contracting the virus and so has the Ministry of Health.

-The coronavirus is a problem of every human being. It is clear from the trends that the virus is not targeting a particular population, race or class.

Every individual is at risk and it is a matter of time for the risk to increase or reduce. It is, therefore, important that every Ugandan considers the coronavirus and its effects as their problem as an individual.

It would be futile to disregard or ignore it as an issue for the Government and worse still it would be reckless to politicise any response to it. There is something each of us can do towards prevention or protection from infection.

A slip-up somewhere can cost you not only your life, but the lives of others, including your loved ones.

-Every individual is the first line of defence. Since every right comes with duties and responsibilities, your health is very much in your hands. The right to health and all the other rights now affected by the outbreak must be exercised with responsibility.

It is every individual Ugandan's responsibility to embrace the protection mechanisms that the Government taskforce has provided.

It is our responsibility to get and keep informed about the problem; to ask the authorities and experts; to refrain from promoting and spreading misinformation or even try to take advantage of the situation, like the goons that were recently arrested selling fake drugs for the virus.

Many of the suggested protection measures are hygiene-based so we need to do a lot of self-policing to win the battle.

-Ugandans need to leave their comfort zones. In the general socio-cultural setting of Uganda, shaking hands, hugging and kissing is very much rooted in our norms. Some of the response strategies may directly contradict these social norms that we have known since birth.

Ugandans are celebratory people who will find any excuse to gather and enjoy. However, such a life-threatening pandemic requires that we learn to follow the guidelines, even if it violates some social beliefs.

This will take an extra effort to drum up appropriate messages that will see people abandon age-old traditions in order to stay safe.

-Information is power; it can make or break resilience to the challenge. Participation of everyone in finding the solution is key in addressing the challenge.

However, it is important that to enhance people's participation, they have to be well-informed.

Factual, adequate and appropriate information in simple, user-friendly formats will be key in empowering people to make the right choices.

It will reduce or eliminate the cons, witch-hunting and the disharmony that normally characterises tensions that surround unexplainable illnesses. Let us endeavour to share the appropriate information, each one at their level.

-The silver lining on the dark cloud. All is not lost. We will see increasing consciousness about hygiene. Washing hands has never killed anyone; coughing in the elbow is good manners; sanitising hands is healthy, disposing of used tissue in the proper way is being responsible.

I wish we could maintain it at that even when the virus is eventually controlled. Besides, Uganda is a God-fearing country and if people follow God's ways, we can fight off the virus by being responsible, caring and sensitive to others. Let us not forget to pray fervently to God to save us.

-The Government is on high alert to address this threat. It is prudent on all of us to play our part in assisting the Government to do what is best for us and our nation.
Let us inform the Government about our concerns; about suspected cases; let us desist from having a casual attitude towards the problem; let us keep informed; let us inform others; let us not politicise the matter, let us be responsible.

Every Ugandan is the first line of defence against the coronavirus. The strength of a chain is in its weakest link.

The writer is the Minister for General Duties, Office of the Prime Minister