COURSE: INRODUCTION TO INSTRUCTOR: AKHTAR

DEVELOPMENT STUDIES HUSSAIN

GROUP# 14 ASSIGNMENT NO# 1

Please include following important features in your group reports;

1. Choose the country hit by COVID 19 (instructor will give you name of country)
Kenya
2. Briefly explain the background and date on which COVID 19 cases reported in the
country.
Background of cases in Kenya:
The Covid -19 pandemic in Kenya is the-most superior and acute cause of the virus-
was confirmed to have reached Kenya on 12 March 2020. The initial rise of cases in the
capital-of Nairobi. On July 23, Kenya confirmed 15,000 cases and 6 recoveries. The
total cases confirmed to date are 169,697 and the total recovered people are 115,988.
With the deaths of 3,108 that is 1.83%.
On 12 Jan 2020, WHO confirmed the novel cases of the-coronavirus which caused
respiratory illness in the cluster of people in Wuhan Hubei province. As of March 2020,
in Kenya first 27-year old women travelled from the US to London. On 15 March cabinet
sectary of health announced that two patients in the aircraft in transit for the US had
also been found positive. After which the president took measures to curb the virus's
spread. In April month the cases rose from 22 to 81. About 2366 people had been
tested positive on 15 April 2020. In just 2020 the number of-cases grew from 4404 to
6366. In July 2020 there was a ban-on the social gatherings. In Dec 2020 the officials
reported 20%of vaccines available for the population.
Cases in the country took a down toll in the months of September and October while
they started increasing again when the second wave hit in the year 2021. The countries
recovery rate is good as compared to other African countries.

3. Develop a fact sheet of COVID 19 situation about that country (Hint: the active cases,
recovered cases, hospitalized, deaths etc: cut off date 25/12/2020 (for factsheet)

Kenya have vaccinated the 933, 436 kenyans in the first phase but now they have no vaccine left for the second dose. Below is the estimation of corona virus from

jan21 to may29.
 MONTHS TOTAL CASES TOTAL RECOVERED TOTAL DEATHS

31 JANUARY 21 100,773 83,907 1,763

28 FEBRUARY 21 105,973 86,678 1,856

30 MARCH 21 134,058 92,679 2,147

25 APRIL 21 156,787 106,588 2,622

29 MAY 21 170,041 116,018 3,124

4. The strategies adopted by country to tackle COVID 19 (Hint: you can explain
suppression strategies, lockdowns, social distancing etc)
During a period of high vulnerability, the Kenyan government has made cautious and considered
strides towards containing Coronavirus, while keeping however much of the economy working
as could reasonably be expected. To work most adequately, the public authority's keen control
procedure should be educated by information more broad Coronavirus testing is basic for this.
Inside this shaky setting, the Kenyan government acted right on time to forestall a wellbeing
emergency intensifying the current financial and food security challenges. On 15 Walk, with just
three affirmed instances of Coronavirus, Kenya suspended global departures from nations with
detailed Coronavirus cases and confined passage into the nation to just returning residents and
inhabitants, who were needed to hole up upon appearance. Schools and colleges were shut,
public social affairs prohibited, and everything except fundamental laborers in the proper area
mentioned to telecom. With around 84% of the all-out labour force working in the casual area, it
has been important for the public authority to tailor lockdown limitations to the neighbourhood
setting. Maybe than settling on complete lockdown, as found in a few European nations, a public
sunset to-day break time limitation was presented close by a solid correspondences crusade
urging occupants to remain at home except if for fundamental business. Perceiving that
numerous Kenyans live hand to mouth and have no choice except for to keep working external
their homes, mutate minibuses, the essential method of public transportation, have been
permitted to continue to work, despite the fact that with prerequisites to sanitize vehicles
habitually and to work at close to 60 percent of conveying limit.

5. An overview of health sector in that country and their capacity to deal with COVID 19
In East Africa, 47 semi-autonomous countries are situated in the Republic of Kenya. It has a
populace of 47,.6 million with over 68,9 percent of the rural population. According to the
Ministry of Health, there are 6608 public health facilities (60.6%), & 4293 (39.4%) in Kenya.
Out of the facilities for public health, county governments manage 5175 (78.3%) institutions,
religion organisations (FBOs) manage 1004 (15.2%), non-government organisations (NGOs)
manage 327 (5%) and public institutions, such as military hospitals, manage 100 (1.5%).
The medication system in Kenya consists of primary health care and primary health facilities
(level 1), the lower unit being primary health centres (level 2 and 3), dispensary services and
medical centres and primary referral facilities (level 4) and secondary referral infrastructure
(level 5), then tertiary referral establishments (level 4) and finally, primary health infrastructure
(level 3).
Resolution 72.16 of the WHA (World health assembly ) of May 2019 called on the Member
States to create a dedicated emergency service as well as care area or unit with suitable
management and diagnostic equipment in all the first-level hospitals as well as above The least
level of healthcare centres that can provide complex surgery are 1st-level hospitals. These might
be level 4 facilities throughout the Kenya healthcare infrastructure. The specialised 24-hour
emergency centre was just 20 percent (n=411) of the 4, 5 or 6 hospitals in Kenya. No emergency
centre triage method was nationally adopted.
In Kenya, in the KHFA report 2018/2019 the percentage of facilities with general emergency
services contains preventive goods between facilities that provide the services in a designated
emergency location as shown in Fig. 1 below

fig 1: Proportion of Kenya facilities in 2018 that have general emergency infection prevention
items in a designated emergency service facility.

Prehospital emergency care: Owing to a shortage of coordinated EMS infrastructure in Kenya,

most patients with acute disease and injury get to the hospitals with private vehicles and taxis in
general. Moving restrictions in Kenya during the COVID-19 outbreak prevented most patients
from accessing emergency medical treatment in time, and thus contributed to incidence of
disease and injury in patients.As the case scenarios of COVID-19 throughout Kenya rise, there is
an urgent requirement to reinforce the emergency system in pre-hospital cases by establishing an
interconnected EMS system for responding to serious and serious COVID-19 cases, particularly
under travel restrictions, in local and other emergencies and in a single federal toll-free
emergency line.
Emergency Departments (EDs): Kenya have no specialist 24h emergency centre as stated in
WHA's Resolution 72.16. Most hospitals are primary, secondary and tertiary hospitals .
Emergencies are the initial point of contact for several individuals throughout the world
particularly in low or intermediate incomes (LMICs) nations where access to healthcare is
logistically or financially barred and care only becomes available if acute disease or injury
symptoms occur. Their goal is especially to ensure timeliness of sensitive conditions for very
sick patients, resuscitation and referral and to give final treatment for many others.Effective
assessment of COVID-19 victims at ED would assist national hospitals deal with the inflows,
direct medical resources needed for effective support of the serious disease and safeguard the
safety of health care employees.. A valuable guides to catégorize the patients into the isolation of
the community and those who need admission to hospitals and ICU treatment are provided in the
WHO methodology for triages of COVID-19 and references for resources-limited settings with
community transmission.As the COVID 19 cases in Kenya rise, the system of prehospital
emergency relief is urgently required to be strengthened by maintaining a single national free
emergency connection number as well as developing an integral EMS system for responding to
serious and critical COVID 19 cases throughout the community and in other situations of
emergency, particularly with enforced travel bans.
Critical care: The current quantity of ventilators and ICU beds in the nation is much less than the
estimates given by the existing estimation techniques, that is an additional 609 ventilator and
1511 ICU beds and 1, when all the anticipated symptomatic infections of COVID-19 will occur
in six months and lead to a higher peak when compared to the same set of symptomatic
infections.It should be observed here that the simple availability of an ICU bed doesn't really
mean that patients with severe problems may be treated properly. Besides the beds, an ICU must
fulfil some minimal standards related to work, caseload, personnel and operating needs, design,
equipment and surveillance for patients. The provision of these treatments depends on the
continuity of treatment for severely sick COVID-19 patients treated in ED.
It should be observed here that the simple availability of an ICU bed doesn't really mean that
patients with severe problems may be treated properly. Besides the beds, an ICU must fulfil
some minimal standards related to work, caseload, personnel and operating needs, design,
equipment and surveillance for patients. The provision of these treatments depends on the
continuity of treatment for severely sick COVID-19 patients treated in ED.In order to deal safely
with the expected huge numbers of critical and severe COVID-19 patients, the national, county
governments, and other stakeholders associated with the health system in Kenya must act
immediately to fix the deficiencies found in this evaluation.
 6. The explanation of economic losses due to COVID 19 in that country (hint: you can
explain joblessness, layoffs, fall in GDP, trade imbalances, economic inactivity etc)
The decrease in economic development reflects the pandemic's more severe economic impact to
date than had been expected, especially the considerable impact on the national accounts of the
shutdown of education institutions since March. As a result, the government has used fiscal and
monetary measures to sustain the healthcare system, protect the most vulnerable people, and
assist businesses in maintaining employment, incomes, and the economy's productive capacity.
The budget deficit has expanded, and debt risks have increased, as a result of a steep drop in tax
collections owing to declining economic activity and tax relief, as well as an increase in COVID-
related expenditure demands. Kenya's debt to GDP ratio has climbed to 65 percent of GDP. It is
equally critical to provide well-targeted support to the most vulnerable affected households.
Kenya's economic prospects remain bleak as the COVID-19 virus spreads across the country and
throughout the world. According to the baseline assumptions, the economy would bounce
strongly in 2022, with real GDP rising by 6. The unexpected influence on the national account's
handling of education sector production normalization, which is expected to contribute 2.5%, is a
key contributor in this high bounce. Delays in vaccine supply, as well as social isolation and
other COVID-19 countermeasures, might jeopardize the expected economic rebound. In order to
cope with the COVID-19 worldwide pandemic, the report's policy section focuses on measures
to boost the healthcare system and testing capacity, to help enterprises, and to safeguard the most
vulnerable families.
7. Discuss economic stimulus (economic support) package provided by central government
to mitigate the losses of COVID 19
Forceful early actions to support the economy within the face of such associate shock enclosed
immediate temporary cuts in financial gain income taxes and corporate income taxes, a short
lived reduction within the rate of the value-added tax from 16 percent to 14 percent, and
revisions to the budget to accommodate extra outlay on health and social protection..
The Kenyan Central Bank helped cushion the blow with rate of interest cuts, and with liquidity
injections to confirm the continuing sleek functioning of Kenya’s economic system. It also
encouraged banks to offer borrowers the chance to postpone loan payments the temporary
elimination of fees for mobile cash transactions reduced prices for users and promoted transition
from physical exchange of money to a safer means that of payment.
As a result, while the shock was large, the impact on economic process has been contained. On a
year-on year-basis, output growth recovered from -5.5 % within the second quarter of 2020 to
-1.1 % within the third quarter. Growth in 2020 overall is probably going to own been about to
zero and it's projected to restore powerfully in 2021.
While economic activity is picking up, many challenges remain. Public health continues to be
stressed with the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines simply obtaining started. Higher financial
condition has set back progress towards Kenya’s development goals. Kenya’s business and debt
positions have conjointly worsened, adding to difficulties that existed even before the shock
 8. Critically examine the status of country (Developed, developing, least developing) to deal
with such contagious disease.
Corona Virus spreads from communication it started spreading across all the nations
of the Asia and then across all the ones in the world. This has led to lockdowns in all
the countries making all the people restricted to their own houses until notices from
the governments.  The mitigation and prevention strategies to curb Covid-19 and its
socio-economic consequences are differentially distributed across the developed,
developing, and least developed nations of the world.
Kenya is among the developing economies of the world with low to middle income
earning and a relatively better socio-political setting compared to its African
neighbors. The Covid-19 pandemic has relentlessly hit the Kenyan economy and
society through multiple waves and sinusoidal positivity rate. In the beginning, the
country's positivity rate ranged above 15% and had caused massive health burdens.
However, Kenya saw its first milestone when its positivity rate reduced from
September 2020 to January 2021 and curbed the second wave. The major reason for
the reduction in impact was the stricter rules and regulations like the closing of
drinking bars, stricter institutional restrictions, stricter policing under the Public Order
Act and Public Health Act. Further, the major success has been the procurement of
vaccines with the global vaccine alliance and the creation of awareness to overcome
vaccine hesitancy and rural outreach for vaccine administration.  

9. Discuss Social safety net programs adopted by that country to help poor households
affected by COVID 19
The Kenyan COVID-19 epidemic has been translated into significant socio-economic impacts
on the population of Kenya, which must be understood to communicate policy responses in a
timely manner. School closures, restrictions on movement, restrictions on community gatherings
and restrictions on economic activity have affected Kenya's socio-economic life, creating
negative consequences such as income losses and increased food insecurity, which has been
exacerbated by locust invasion. Understanding the socio-economic implications of the COVID-
19 epidemic and identifying the most vulnerable populations is crucial. Such understanding can
implement evidence-based policies and program answers. However, the lack of updated socio-
economic data hinders efforts to allocate resources effectively, for example, to the creation of
social assistance programs. Therefore, timely and frequent socio-economic data are needed to
develop evidence-based measures and mitigate the effects of the COVID-19 crisis. COVID-19
Rapid Response Telephone Survey (RRPS) aims to fill in socio-economic data gaps, while
providing targeted policy and initial resources to report program responses. In the context of the
COVID-19 epidemic, face-to-face surveys are no longer possible due to the risk of infection and
movement restrictions. In contrast, telephone surveys are ideal for quick and frequent data
collection. Berkeley, California, in collaboration with the World Bank, the Kenya National Bureau
of Statistics (KNBS), the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and
university researchers, is implementing the RRPS to assess the impact of COVID-19 and to
report policy responses in Kenya. :
(i) Kenyan and refugee families, (ii) micro-enterprises run by young entrepreneurs and (iii)
formal enterprises. This note presents the findings and makes the first policy recommendations
in the three data collection rounds of the RRPS for Kenyan families, while providing initial
findings on RRPS for refugee families and micro-enterprises. "Kenya has made significant
progress in reducing poverty in recent years, but COVID-19 has destroyed the livelihoods of
many Kenyans and plunged two million people into poverty."

10. Discuss the key milestones or successes achieved by that country in the form of
Combating COVID 19
The COVID 19 is a pandemic disease that arises in Wuhan, China from December to
2019 and rapidly spread all over the world. It is also called the novel coronavirus
because of the crown shape structure of the virus. The miles stones by Kenya in
combating COVID 19 are national technical assessment, vaccination, curfew, RCCE,
sanitization, and well-equipped frontline workers.
The following milestones were taken by Kenya to combat COVID 19.

Curfew

Kenya's government had issued strict guidelines on the mobility of individuals. The
fewer people will come in contact with each other, the less will be the chances of
disease transmission.

National Technical Assessment

This includes a comprehensive review of the response plan in light of the third wave
of COVID 19.

Vaccination

The Kenya government has made vaccination compulsory for all the frontline health
workers and high-risk groups.

Revamping Risk Communication and Community Engagement

The RCCE plan includes the use of community advocacy, communication, and social
mobilization strategies to enhance the knowledge on COVID 19, the benefits of the
vaccine, and the need to change and sustain safety protocols across all communities
and populations.

Economic Cushion

It includes the collaboration of different sectors to cushion the most vulnerable group
of the society, to keep vulnerable groups economically stable. It also includes an
extension of government tax measures.
Frontline healthcare workers

Kenya's government provides the frontline health workers with well-equipped pieces
of equipment to ensure their health and safety.

Sanitization

The Kenya government issued the guidelines for massive sanitation of the public
places and educate the common people about the importance and maintenance of
sanitization.

11. How would you see role of globalization and interconnectivity for the spread of COVID
19 in that country
The issue of general wellbeing pandemic reaction in Africa should be tended to by sanctioning
setting explicit arrangements which ought to be executed in an accommodating manner. In
nations like Kenya, DRC, Uganda and South Africa, security powers have utilized extreme
power to execute lockdown and stay-at-home requests which has brought about passings of
regular folks [9]. While implementing these actions can restrict the spread of COVID-19, the
strong activities disregard common liberties to nobility, equivalent treatment, and life.
Governments and political pioneers ought not to blame the pandemic so as to oblige singular
opportunity however as a chance to expand trust in government foundations as they deal with
this general wellbeing emergency [9, 29]. Maybe, and since a piece of the wellbeing negative
financial aftermath of the pandemic is an aftereffect of lockdown measures in major league
salary nations, it isn't nonsensical for African governments to look for explicit help (as awards,
not advances) to make up for a portion of the monetary expenses of their lockdown measures.
The general wellbeing the executive’s ability for containing episodes in Africa has
unquestionably improved throughout the most recent decade following encounters of managing
flare-ups like Ebola, Lassa fever, meningitis, cholera and measles. Coronavirus, nonetheless,
presents a more significant threat as asymptomatic people can taint others. The most defenseless
in this emergency are those living in thickly populated regions or underserved regions, working
in the problematic casual economy, and essentially the individuals who are the least fortunate.
Such people structure a huge extent of Africa's populace. With the absence of consumable water
and sterilization in country regions and the presence of metropolitan ghettos (casual settlements)
in numerous African nations, continuous hand washing as an essential and compelling preventive
measure against COVID-19 will be unreachable, expanding the danger of contamination inside
and across nations.

12. What are the key lessons learnt from COVID 19 PANDEMIC
.)Family is important:
COVID tells us many things but the very important one is family matters more than we
realised. We should spend more time with our family because no matter how much time
we think we have; at the end of the day, what We came to appreciate was that we
simply don’t spend enough quality time with our families. This pandemic brought us
closer to our family.

•)Be financially prepared:

We should do some savings for the emergency which can be utilise in case of any ups
and downs. COVID 19 helps us in teaching that we all should have some emergency
fund in case if someone needs any medical help, or sudden job loss. Saving is crucial.

•) Work from home:

Home working opens up a new range of possibilities for the way businesses can work
and structure themselves. it helped
employees improve their work-life balance and made them productive. Staff were more
likely to feel happier and more energised working from home and therefore less chance
of their immune system being negatively impacted by burnout.

•) Be prepared for the worst:

There is a saying “hope for the best and prepare for the worst”. COVID 19 gave us the
life lesson that anytime anything can happen either your family member could’ve been
tested positive or someone could have lost their job so we should always be prepare for
such things.