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According to the WHO, there were 15,471 confirmed COVID-19 cases in Africa by 14^th April. 835 people have died. Kenya has had 208 cases and Uganda 53. Both countries have been quick to respond, enforcing lockdowns at a much earlier stage than most European countries. The Ugandan authorities closed Entebbe Airport and all land borders on 22^nd March, while the Kenyan Government suspended all international passenger flights on 25^th March.

Since the beginning of March, we’ve been bringing you snapshots via Twitter and Facebook of what our partners have been doing to prepare their communities for the inevitable. What became clear very quickly was the lack of basic protective equipment to keep health workers safe. So we launched a campaign to raise funds for the purchase of personal protective equipment.

Despite the temptation to hunker down and isolate, we urge you to remain open and willing to help those far away in developing countries, who do not have the good fortune to have access to a free and well-equipped national health service when they need it. Please continue to act locally, but also keep thinking globally.

For further donations, click here COVID-19 Response Appeal.

We hope this message finds you well in these uncertain times. CHASE Africa is very aware of the huge challenges that Coronavirus is placing on our partners in Kenya and Uganda, and on colleagues in the UK. It is important that we all look after ourselves, and the organisations and communities we are working with in Kenya and Uganda.

We are reassessing the situation on a daily basis with our partner organisations and want to be sure they are operating as safely as possible. They work very closely with their local Ministry of Health offices in rural locations of Kenya and Uganda. This may mean that they are required to focus on operations linked to Coronavirus prevention.

Large open meetings in Kenya and Uganda have been banned, so that means the mobile day-clinics that our partners operate, offering primary healthcare and family planning services, are no longer permitted as many hundreds of people come to these clinics.

But our partners also work with local Community Health Workers who offer family planning advice and access to services in their communities. This will continue for the foreseeable future as long as it remains permitted. They will receive training and support to ensure high levels of hygiene are practiced. Our partners will be guided by their local Ministry of Health offices as to what activities are endorsed and supported.

Here in the UK, everyone is working from home and we communicate using the usual electronic means. But we are likely to face serious financial challenges in the weeks and months ahead.

Do please continue to support our work. Even when Coronavirus is quite rightly taking so much energy and resources, people in marginalised and poor communities still need to have access to family planning and basic healthcare which is what our partners are continuing to do with your support.

Our thoughts go out to anyone affected by the virus.

Best wishes, CHASE Africa Trustees and staff.