The COVID-19 crisis has unprecedentedly altered the course of life of majority of Africans. Menstrual health and wellbeing is a key altered aspect. The manifestation of this is apparent in the reduction/elimination of access to Menstrual Hygiene Management products and facilities, adoption of unhygienic menstrual management practices even by healthcare workers, decrease in access to menstrual-related knowledge, increase in the risk of occurrence and severity of several stress-related menstrual disorders, and a shift of public focus from menstrual health and wellbeing promotion. This disruption, in turn, leads to increased risk of predisposition to several other diseases/illnesses; prevalence of medical negligence and error, morbidity and mortality; and development lag in the continent. Prevention of these possible negative outcomes is only feasible through continued and reinforced menstrual health and wellbeing promotion facilitated by the African government and other stakeholders. This paper, thus, aim to redraw their attention to this urgent need.
Uganda has had a relatively large share of zoonotic disease outbreaks in the past and this has impacted its preparedness and response level in combatting the COVID-19 outbreak in the country. Compared to most countries in the East African Community, Africa and the world, Uganda seems to be effectively curtailing the spread of the virus and managing the disease despite its relatively weak healthcare system and economy. The first COVID-19 case was confirmed on March 21st, 2020 and as at May 6th, 2020, there has only been 100 cases confirmed from 47,620 tests carried out. Also, as at this date, there has been 55 recoveries and no reported death from the disease. These promising statistics prompts the development of this paper to detail the epidemiology of the disease in the country and discuss the response of the government and other stakeholders to the outbreak.
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