As of today, April 22, 2020, over 2.4 million persons across the globe had been infected by the COVID 19 virus and around 165,000 of whom have lost their lives. The negative impact of this pandemic in all the seven continents can simply not be over emphasised.
However, like the saying goes, “there is a silver lining even in the darkest cloud.” As such Uganda as one of the countries affected can still learn and reap from the opportunities this unpleasant situation has presented. For the purposes of this article I will only highlight three prospective opportunities as follows;
First, there has been a concerted effort across all spheres in the Ugandan society to emphasise the importance of prevention premised on the fact that our health care system is underfunded and therefore ill equipped to handle large scale treatment. Government should therefore continue this effort beyond the Corona era by undertaking deliberate actions to fund prevention and health promotion efforts in the whole country. This would enable the government to have a fully paid community health workforce.
Secondly, the Corona pandemic has undoubtedly revealed the impact health can have on all sectors of the economy. Government should therefore adopt and emphasise Health in All Policies (HiAP) in all her policy formulation processes. This can enhance collaboration between different sectors. Furthermore, it can avert any negative health impacts resulting from the implementation of different policies.
And thirdly, leverage the good will and voluntary contributions from all well-wishers to improve the lives of Ugandans. It’s well-known that many political agendas in the developing countries are usually funded by well-wishers and Corporations through voluntary contributions as long as they believe that it will be of benefit to humanity.
Finally since our country’s motto pledges allegiance to God, Let me quote a biblical scripture in Romans 8:28 (Which says, All things work together for the Good of those who love God) in other words the good and bad occurrences can have merits in them as long as we are kin to learn and take advantage of the opportunities they present.
By Nathan Okiror - MPH Student
