This archive report was first published on 20 August 2020.
Kenya is facing a critical shortage of reagents for Covid-19 testing and contact tracing, a situation that has left the country's health facilities struggling to cope with the rising number of cases.
According to the Nation, the National Influenza Lab and the Kenyatta National Hospital have a backlog of unprocessed samples due to the shortages caused by a worldwide race to acquire testing kits.
"We've had a shortage for some time and Kenyatta National Hospital along with other government labs cannot conduct the tests," said a senior official at the National Influenza Lab.
The official attributed the shortage to the lack of automated kits, such as reagents for Roche.
Despite the government's efforts to increase testing, the country is still conducting under 5,000 tests a day, despite spending over Sh1.8 billion on reagents.
Health CAS Mercy Mwangangi acknowledged the challenges, saying that the government would sort out the reagent issues next week and then get back to testing more samples.
However, critics argue that the government's strategy is flawed and that the country needs a more comprehensive approach to testing and contact tracing.
Mr Ndung'u Wainaina, executive director of the International Center for Policy and Conflict, said that the country's rapidly shifting strategies are a reflection of "afterthought and catching up" rather than a cogent strategy with an epidemiologic basis.
He urged the government to improve its national testing and tracing strategy, including random testing and looking at all geographical areas and population groups.
