Open letter to Museveni on new Covid-19 wave

Dear HE Yoweri Tibuhaburwa Kaguta Museveni,
I congratulate you upon your recent election and swearing-in as the President of the Republic of Uganda. I take this opportunity to also wish you a very successful term of office. I would also have congratulated you upon fighting Covid-19 successfully but allow me to reserve that for a later date.

As you are aware, this term of office is beginning at an unprecedented time when the Covid-19 pandemic is hitting the Pearl of Africa harder than ever before. 
Reports from the Ministry of Health and the media are indicating that the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and High Dependency Units (HDU) at Mulago hospital and Entebbe Regional Referral Hospital are at full capacity.
At the same time, our beloved country has been hit by several Covid-19 variants. 

All these are coming at a time when Ugandans, especially your Bazzukulu (grandchildren),  are enjoying life as never before without due attention to Covid-19 standard operating procedures (SOPs) and fear for the disease.
In August 2020, the Lancet Covid-19 Commission ranked Uganda as the best country in Africa in terms of suppressing the Covid-19 pandemic. 
  
During this time, you were actively leading the Covid-19 fight. I remember your  addresses on the pandemic. All Ugandans would keep waiting to listen to you and this provided excellent opportunities to drive Covid-19 prevention messages into the hardened hearts of Ugandans. Now they say emitiima gyakaluba. They no longer care. 
You were the main driver rallying Ugandans to follow SOPs. However, it feels like the bus (read Covid-19 fight) is being driven by the conductor.
 
You very well know that Ugandans are very stubborn and need constant reminders and spanking to follow rules and guidelines. They will only complain that the government is not doing enough. That the health care system is very poor but will not follow SOPs. We need your renewed command, guidance, leadership and action in the Covid-19 battle now than ever before.
Soon the enemy (Covid-19) will mix with us, surround and annihilate us if nothing is done urgently, effectively and efficiently.

Research has shown the effectiveness of Covid-19 SOPs in arresting the pandemic. It is not about having the best healthcare system, many ICU beds, a lot of oxygen or many health workers in hospitals. Italy, India and the USA had fairly a better health system than Uganda. 
Not even the vaccines can help now because the coverage is still too low to offer us hard immunity.  India has been the supplier of vaccines in low income countries.  Look at where it is. 
Allow me to add my voice to that of experts in suggesting what must be done now urgently and effectively to control the second wave;
 First and foremost, we need strict enforcement of Covid-19 SOPs both by the technical and security personnel. Mr President, as the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, you need to rein in your security personnel to ensure they enforce the SOPs.

Secondly, we need to devise new, innovative and effective social behaviour change communication using a combination of the health belief model and other models. 
It is the behaviour of Ugandans that will decide the course of this pandemic. They need new appreciation of the seriousness, fatality and impact of Covid-19 on their lives and country in order to take action.
 
 Lasty, we need renewed and effective leadership of the fight. I have no doubt that Mr President, you can offer this as you have done before in the HIV/Aids and immunisable diseases’ fight and at the beginning of this epidemic. 
You have fought and won many battles. Do not be defeated by Covid-19. 

Mr Innocent Atuhe is a senior clinician and community health worker at Centre for Research and Innovations at King Ceasor University.