The government has been informed to avoid using Western Countries’ projections on the anticipated progression of Covid-19 since the climate and demographics there are different from the Sub-Saharan region.
A Biomedical Scientist at Egerton University, Dr. Bartholomew Ondigo said the age dynamics in Sub-Sahara Africa is predominantly made up of young people, less than 18-years-old and only fewer people were above 70 years.
“As has been recorded, the majority of deaths in Europe and USA mainly involves those above 65 years old. This means the Sub- Saharan region might have the advantage of better immunity due to younger population,” the don explained.
Dr. Ondigo said that the tropical climate also seems to be advantageous to the region arguing that the numbers of those dying of and contracting Covid 19 in the Western region has gradually decreased due to the onset of summer.
“It appears the hot and warm weather is not favourable for the spread of the virus while the rains and floods experienced earlier in the country have subsided,’’ he stated.
The other advantage the Sub-Saharan Africa seems to have, he added, was different lifestyles in that the region does not embrace elderly homes that he stressed were initially ‘’massacre’’ sites in the Western region.
Ondigo commended the government for its efforts in ensuring physical distancing, hand washing, wearing masks and encouraging people to work from home and reduce crowds on streets.
However, he emphasised that copying wholesale the way the diseases progressed in the Europe and USA, and using those projections for the country might mislead policymakers on what to expect in the near future.
The covid-19 disease was first reported at the end of last year, in the seafood market of Wuhan in China, but by March this year it had spread almost all over the world and the World Health Organisation declared it a global pandemic.
By Veronica Bosibori
