Kenya, the United Nations and International community convened on Friday at the UN Complex in Nairobi to combine their forces in their fight against the Covid-19 pandemic in Kenya.
The United Nations Country Team in Kenya seeks to mobilise full support to the Kenyan government in its fight against the virus on all fronts.
Kenya has so far recorded seven cases, and are expected to increase in the coming weeks, if the international trends are anything to go by.
UN Resident Coordinator to Kenya Siddharth Chatterjee said the coronavirus crisis can only be solved through partnerships.
“We stand with the government of Kenya and its people to fight Covid-19 in Kenya,” Chatterjee said.
Among the areas the United Nations Country Team is supporting Kenya include continued support in strengthening the Emergency Operations Centre, coordination and leadership, case management, laboratory management, surveillance strengthening, communications and resource mobilization and procurement.
WHO Representative to Kenya Dr Rudi Eggers is a key member of the National Public Emergency Steering Committee chaired by Health Principal Secretary Peter Tum.
World Bank country director for Kenya Felipe Jaramillo confirmed that his bank has allocated $60 million (Sh6 billion) to finance efforts to fight coronavirus in the country.
The United Nations is providing technical support to the coordination pillar of the National Task Force that developed the Kenyan Covid-19 Contingency plan, which has become the basis of all response activities.
We stand with Kenya in solidarity in these challenging times and are swiftly reviewing our support to ensure that funds can be urgently mobilized to support the government’s efforts in addressing the health and socio-economic consequence of Covid-19,” European Union Ambassador to Kenya Simon Mordue said.
“Today’s convening clearly demonstrated that the people of Kenya can count on the United Nations Country team and International Community as their ally in this fight,” Mordue added.
The UN has initiated an Incident Management System, in some cases repurposing some staff to assist in the Covid-19 response activities. A total of 15 technical officers have been seconded to the Ministry of Health to boost capacity as the response activities go countrywide.
One of the major issues during such emergencies is the availability of technical guidelines on how things should be handled. The UN has supported the Health ministry in training 34 county rapid response teams and provided guidelines and the necessary tools.
“Another group of 32 Level 4-5 clinicians from nine counties were trained on critical care case management while another 33 frontline workers from Level 4-5 health facilities were trained on infection control. The UN also supported the training of Health Promotion officers from all 47 counties. WHO training materials have been used in the roll-out of training to all health workers across the country,” the UN said in a statement.
“As indicated by WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, governments must do all they can to prepare for an eventual outbreak and respond rapidly to contain and isolate these initial cases: time is critical now,” Dr Rudi Eggers said.
Health CAS Dr Rashid Aman said given the speed and scale of spread of Covid-19 worldwide, the entire globe must stand together to fight against the pandemic.
“Stronger nations must stand by the weaker nations for us to succeed. The government of Kenya appreciates the UN Country Team, World Bank, EU, and other Development Partners from the International Community for their support and solidarity,” Aman said.
