{UAH} AN END OF YEAR RAY OF HOPE!

Though open, hotels seem mostly empty. I was literally alone here in the entire lobby, reception, restaurant and bar area (picture attached). Even the parking lot was empty. News of vaccines now rolling out to the public overseas must have sounded like a blessing directly from heaven to many such businesses. Particularly those dependent on tourism, and even those in the entertainment industry. Though still slightly far away, finally there is at least a light at the end of the tunnel.

At this juncture, I can now look back at a few key events around this pandemic.

From the moment the Corona virus was declared a global pandemic on 11th March 2020, some of us saw straight away that poor countries were going to be most affected and in more different ways compared to everywhere else. With the lack of treatment, vaccine, and support resources, including an almost total lack of testing capacity in Africa, a sense of urgency dawned on me.

Knowing nothing about this new global danger made start to dedicate alot of my time in reading every available literature about the pandemic and how best to help stop it.

One event stands out to me today in retrospect, and that is the battle to make health experts recognize the necessity for everyone to wear face masks.

I was shocked to find that the global health experts at WHO, in African governments, and in many countries around the world, were openly misleading the public in regards to the importance of face masks, and thereby putting people directly in more danger of getting infected and killed by the deadly virus.

The World Health Organization, and even the health experts and media in Uganda, were telling citizens that "healthy people do not need to wear masks".

Clearly this was a grave mistake on their part, and it was tantamount to helping the virus kill more victims by letting people remain exposed to infection.

It took alot of activism by countless ordinary people around the world (including myself) before this flawed policy was changed.

From talking to the local and international media to social media activism and networking with a few like-minded people on online platforms, it was critical to raise public awareness to the cardinal necessity for everyone to wear masks so as to help stop the pandemic, flatten the curve, and save lives, even if global health experts were obstensibly saying the opposite.

Imagine someone like me who doesn't have any medical education, was trying to tell health policy experts that they are wrong to not urge the public to wear face masks when out in public. Of course many people would be dismissive.

To me this incident alone is proof that degrees and doctorates do not necessarily come with wisdom and/or common sense.

When a few international journalists insisted on inquiring about this glaring discrepancy, I heard on the news the WHO responding that they did not have any research that showed the effectiveness of masks. I immediately went online and sent them all the scientific research that I had read, plus the resulting data and detailed findings, including the names of the scientists and institutions that had conducted the different research.

I remember even posting a link to the World Health Organization on Twitter in the hope that they get the research immediately.

It is possible that they did check the information I sent because barely two weeks later, on June 6th, the WHO suddenly changed its public health advisory and recommended that everyone starts wearing masks in public. To me this was a great relief because until then it had seemed like I was talking to a dumb wall. What also disturbed me more was that African countries, including Uganda, were just following the dangerous recommendation without even conducting their own research, or just using plain common sense on the matter.

This was a respiratory virus. Simple.

For the record, by the time WHO and our African governments changed their guidelines on face masks, sixth months had already passed since the outbreak was first officially declared on 31st December 2019, and 3 months had already passed since WHO had declared Corvid-19 a global pandemic on March 11th, 2020.

Bear in mind also that by this time the World Health Organization's own global Corvid-19 data for June 6th showed that almost 7 million people had already gotten infected by the disease worldwide, and an incredible 400,000 people had already lost their lives, all under the dangerous official guideline that people "do not need to wear masks".

This apparent complacency to the danger by the worlds top health expert institution was troubling.

Today I am simply glad that I tried to do something about it.

That alone brings immense satisfaction and a great sense of purpose to my own life. Especially when I look around and see people now overwhelmingly wearing masks to protect themselves and their children from the dangerous scourge.

I leave it to the experts to determine the statistical estimates of lives saved around the world just by the change in face mask policy alone.

However authorities around the world must recognize that every individual citizen in every country has made tremendous sacrifices to contribute in stopping the pandemic. Many staying at home  and even loosing their jobs or businesses in the process. Govrnments must continue to look at new ways to reboot economies. Including supporting continued consumption so as to help industries and small businesses cope. Let's remember that trickle down economics failed during the 2008 financial crisis. Therefore availing money to consumers and zero interest loans to businesses is clearly now appearing to be the best economic policy strategy that actually helps spur economic activity and bring back lost jobs. 

News of several vaccines being made available soon surely helps certain sectors cope slightly better, and at least be able to plan better for the times ahead. But world leaders should learn from this global disaster and better prepare for the next one that is already unfolding with disastrous effects in many empoverished countries: Climate Change.

Signed: Mr. Hussein Lumumba Amin.

Friday December 4th 2020.

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