Late February - High-level Visitors

On February 11, the virus that was now consuming the world received its new name: COVID-19. Africa confirmed its first case three days later in Egypt. Happy Valentine’s Day. We knew it was coming at some point. The question was when and where. By February 24, the head of the WHO warned that the coronavirus could become a global pandemic due to increasing numbers of cases outside China. The virus was moving fast and we were well aware of the inadequacies of the healthcare systems in most of Africa. Preparations were underway but not moving fast enough. Our organization's main activities are healthcare so we're very much involved in working with the Somali government to ramp up.

In addition to healthcare capacity, we also are aware that overall hygiene would be an issue. In addition to the need for sensitization, there is also just the lack of infrastructure. It’s much easier to maintain good hygienic practices when you have a functioning indoor toilet and running water. If you don’t, you need other options.

visit to a Mogadishu clinic late February

Another area of concern has been the fact that in many African cities, people live in close proximity without much in the way of barriers. Many people, particularly the more than 20 million people that have been displaced from their homes by conflict or natural disaster, live in packed housing, often with canvas or corrugated metal sheeting separating them from their neighbors. Markets tend to be crowded places with lots of physical contact.

the wonderful faces and colors - a waiting area in a Mogadishu clinic

The myriad of connections to China and other heavily hit countries are well known. The inability to control borders is also clear. All this points to a ticking time bomb.

leaving the clinic

The same day as the announcement of the potential for pandemic, I was off to Mogadishu, this time with high-level visitors from our HQ in New York. It’s one thing to welcome one visitor like this but it’s another to have three at once – with different agendas. None of them had been before so it added to the preparations.

brief trip to the beach

Though my initial plan was to go from Mogadishu to Galkacyo with two of the visitors, in the end we agreed that I would remain in Mogadishu with one of them and return with her to Nairobi on Wednesday (a day sooner with my family). The logistics for these things are rather daunting. Fortunately for us we have some fairly robust security procedures in place and there is little need to step them up in this case. But it’s still tricky to manage the expectations of three different individuals and make sure that they are woven into the rather strict parameters we have regarding our movements, particularly in the capital. I should say that they were all fantastic visitors and seemed to roll with schedule modifications as they arose.

I was wishing I was on that boat

On Monday, we did an excursion into the city with a group visiting activities and participating in meetings with government officials – the same people who would then head off to Galkacyo on Tuesday morning. I stayed back at the office with the other visitor to conduct internal meetings and we did the outing in the city the second day. For both groups we were also able to squeeze in a quick trip to the same restaurant mentioned in the previous blogs. In my debrief with the visitors, they all mentioned the same thing. It’s enough to make your head spin. You have preconceived ideas as to how your visit is going to be and it ends up being partly that but also so many other things that are incongruous. It’s hard to explain to people unless you’ve experienced it. But they all enjoyed their time and were inspired by the hard work and expertise they saw. Always good to hear.