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As the race to find drugs and medicines to cure and prevent COVID-19 reaches the crescendo, many countries including Kenya are now participating in various human clinical trials for among other experimental drugs Remdesivir, chloroquine or hydroxychloroquine, lopinavir + ritonavir, or with Interferonbeta. These drugs have not been approved for public use and can only be used in the context of the clinical trials in many countries. In this context, the role of drug regulation is going to be extremely important especially at the national level.

As we approach the end of April, Kenya could be host to about 500 of the probable 30,000 COVID-19 positive cases in Africa. The country has instituted drastic containment measures -nationwide curfews and complete lock down of suspected hot spot locations: Nairobi, Mombasa, Kilifi and Kwale. The curfews and lock downs have pushed businesses (hotels, factories, offices, transport, markets etc), institutions- schools, churches and mosques; and informal occupations including fishing, trading, casual work and crafts to complete stagnation and closure.

A few days ago, I wrote a blog on ‘Sharing and Developing Ideas, Research and Innovation During Emergencies and I received a lot of questions directly. Some questions were more specific on vaccines like:

‘…the bit about vaccines is quite intriguing if not controversial. The jury on the origins of AIDS, it seems, is still out there. Or did it make its findings & deliver its verdict?

Others asked me about the state of research in the country

The current COVID-19 pandemic has exposed Kenyans to state-enforced public health protocols at odds with their daily schedules. These include quarantine, curfew and cessation of movement across specific counties, including Mombasa. Put together, the three answer to isolation and containment. Whereas quarantine separates and restricts movement of people who have potentially been exposed to a contagious disease in order to limit disease spread, curfews require people to remain indoors between specified hours.

Globally, the last few weeks have been the peak of great awareness and education on COVID-19. This virus needs to be better understood from a layman’s point in order to make information easily disseminated, especially on the African continent. African countries need to provide continuous education and awareness to their populations on the need to keep social distancing, washing hands with sanitisers or soap frequently and wearing masks.

The World Health Organization declared the outbreak of COVID-19 a pandemic on March 11, 2020. In response, governments across the world introduced a raft of measures, such as travel bans and business restrictions, to halt its spread. As efforts are underway to contain and stop its spread, the impact to businesses and economies across the world has become enormous.

A balanced diet and good nutrition are not only important as a source of energy for our active lives but are critical for our defense against disease. According to the world health organization (WHO) a healthy diet helps to protect against malnutrition in all its forms, as well as noncommunicable diseases, including such as diabetes, heart disease, stroke and cancer.

While there is no cure from the COVID-19 infection and indeed no food can prevent the infection, a nutritious and healthy diet rich in protective foods can boost one’s immunity and capacity to fight the infection.

The Oromo proverb is a true reflection of the emergency situation individuals, families, communities, societies, nations and continents are being faced with. While this is seen as some as an opportunity to help humanity it is conversely also resulting in inward thinking as people and peoples struggle to save themselves. The true situation of anyone is really within families many of whom are in isolation, quarantine or staying at home.

Getting food to the people and keeping food production going in times of curfews, movement restrictions and lock-downs are emerging to be the biggest challenges governments across the globe have to contend with when considering or implementing any forms of mass containment as responses necessitated by the COVID 19 pandemic.

There is a famous Kalenjin proverb that states ‘We share the same sun but we do not share the same roofs.’ The Kenya government has struggled over the past few weeks to convince people to stay at home. In addition, while private sector struggled to allow for remote working public sector responded fairly quickly then struggled in maintaining isolationist approaches to remote working and are now slowly calling people back to work: one by one, and meeting by meeting.