US Embassy develops COVID-19 toolkit for Uganda

The US embassy has developed a COVID-19 toolkit for Uganda to facilitate risk information and enable Ugandans easily find information and help they need regarding the virus. 

Aptly named 'COVID-19 Resource Toolkit', it is available online for everyone to access, encompasses all information regarding COVID-19-detection, treatment, and prevention, and has downloadable key links to audios, videos, public service announcements in various languages, and posters with all information that one needs to know about COVID-19.  

The information covers the signs and symptoms of COVID-19, prevention and care, mask-wearing, social distancing, hand hygiene, and other health-related information. 

The links make it easy for one to not only download but also share with their friends on their social media packages for instance the posters can be printed and hanged indoors on in public spaces. 

According to Christopher Krafft, the Chargé d'affaires US Embassy-Kampala, everyone should make it a goal to share the materials and messages with as many people as they can. 

It is during a time like this that relationships become critical to disseminating messages and collaborating for the collective good. I am reaching out to you today to accomplish just that," he said. 

For those keen on following up the Uganda COVID-19 status, the toolkit gives four websites- the Ministry of Health COVID-19 information page, Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) COVID-19 response hub, the Government COVID-19 information hub, and the Uganda COVID-19 status board. For daily COVID-19 case update, it recommends the health ministry Twitter and Facebook pages. 

The toolkit also has links to all the regulations and standard operating procedures (SOPs) the health ministry has put to guide the response to COVID-19. Some of these include; COVID-19 Guidelines for mass gatherings, guidelines on mask use, prevention guidelines for conducting meetings in the workplace, COVID-19 Infection Prevention during Burials, and Operational Guidelines for Village Health Teams, among others. 

The embassy developed the tool kit in collaboration with the health ministry. It seeks to address risk communication at a time when Uganda's daily accumulative case tally has risen to almost 11,000 cases. By the time of filing this report, Uganda had 10,933 cases including 98 deaths. 

"As the cases in Uganda increase and lockdown restrictions are lifted, it becomes increasingly important for vital resources to be shared as widely as possible.  The US Mission in Kampala believes we can assist with this by leveraging our wide network of colleagues to disseminate coordinated, strategic, and comprehensive risk communications messaging," Krafft said. 

He urged Ugandans to utilise the toolkit by sharing extensively as possible so that everyone is reached and armed with information to protect themselves against the virus. 

"The more people know how to keep themselves and their families safe, know the appropriate symptoms for which to look, and know-how to seek the care and treatment they need, the greater the success we will have in beating COVID-19 together!" he said.