Kenya’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic: a balance between minimising morbidity and adverse economic impact
Edwin N. Wangari, Peter Gichuki, Angelyne A. Abuor, Jacqueline Wambui, Stephen Olus Okeyo, Henry T.N. Oyatsi, Shadrack Odikara Oriama, Benard W. Kulohoma
Abstract
<ns3:p>Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has ravaged the world’s socioeconomic systems forcing many governments across the globe to implement unprecedented stringent mitigation measures to restrain its rapid spread and adverse effects. A disproportionate number of COVID-19 related morbidities and mortalities were predicted to occur in Africa. However, Africa still has a lower than predicted number of cases, 4% of the global pandemic burden. In this open letter, we highlight some of the early stringent countermeasures implemented in Kenya, a sub-Saharan African country, to avert the severe effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. These mitigation measures strike a balance between minimising COVID-19 associated morbidity and fatalities and its adverse economic impact, and taken together have significantly dampened the pandemic’s impact on Kenya’s populace.</ns3:p>