This archive report was first published on 18 July 2020.
As the number of Covid-19 cases continues to rise in Kenya, calls for a lockdown have intensified. However, Associate Professor of Psychiatry Lukoye Atwoli argues that such a move would be pointless without a plan to increase testing and healthcare capacity.
Published on July 18, 2020, Atwoli pointed out that countries that have successfully implemented lockdowns did so when the number of cases was low and limited to small areas. They also conducted massive testing to identify areas with higher prevalence of the disease and designed appropriate interventions.
Unfortunately, Kenya has not been able to significantly increase its testing capacity, even when movement restrictions were in place. As a result, the restricted areas became incubation spots that seeded the rest of the country when the restrictions were lifted.
Atwoli also noted that Kenya has a chronic shortage of human resources for health, which has not been addressed despite the current emergency. In the absence of measures to increase testing and healthcare capacity, imposing further restrictions would be pointless.
Instead, Atwoli suggests that the focus should be on testing and caring for patients at hospitals, and protecting and empowering workers on the frontline. A lockdown without a plan is more harmful than no intervention at all.
Lukoye Atwoli is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Moi University School of Medicine.
