“This new data suggests that we can fight COVID more effectively by re-focusing our efforts on those who need it most,” said Prof Edwine Barasa, Director at the Nairobi Programme of the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme.

“Vaccines work; and ensuring older adults and other at-risk groups receive them quickly is the best way to achieve greater health outcomes and is better value for money. We hope this data helps policymakers across the continent determine how to structure impactful, cost-effective, long-term COVID-19 responses,” he said.

COVID-19 has had a number of negative impacts on the health system in Kenya over the past two years. Between 2019 and 2020, data from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria show that the number of malaria cases treated in the country fell by 27%, while HIV testing fell by 37% percent. More than 10,000 fewer individuals were treated for tuberculosis.

The KEMRI-Wellcome Trust research team modelled a broad range of COVID vaccine scale-up scenarios and tested each one for cost-effectiveness and its impact on the spread of the disease.

These forecasts estimate what would happen if vaccine scale-up reached 30%, 50% or 70% of the Kenyan population, under both slow (18 month) and rapid (6 month) scenarios. A no vaccination scenario was modelled as a baseline.

In all cases, the model scales up vaccination to adults over 50 years before extending to the broader population.

Under both the slow and rapid scale-up scenarios, reaching 30% coverage with priority given to adults over 50 averts a substantial number of new infections and deaths – 32 per 100,000 new infections in the 18-month scenario, and 39 per 100,000 in the rapid scenario; as well as ~8,100 or ~9,400 deaths respectively.

Reaching a threshold of 50% and subsequently 70% a would avert an additional ~1,100 deaths under the slow scenario, and an additional ~400 deaths in the rapid scenario.

“The game has changed on COVID-19,” said Justice Novignon, head of the Africa CDC’s Health Economics Unit. “Countries need to re-focus their COVID-19 vaccination programs on the kinds of strategies that will save more lives for less money, especially in settings with overall low risk of severe disease and death and high natural immunity, and constrained resources as is the case in Kenya and Africa more broadly, targeting the elderly and those with risk increasing comorbidities rather than to the whole population. We have to make every last dollar count.”

The research found that scaling-up to 30% vaccine coverage is highly cost effective; while the 50% and 70% scenarios were not, given the lower risk of severe disease and death and high natural immunity due to previous exposure.

The research examined which scenarios saved the most “disability adjusted life years”, or “DALYs”, for the lowest costs. (DALYs are a measure used to standardize health outcomes). A health intervention is cost effective when it saves a DALY for less than the cost of a country’s pre-set cost-effectiveness threshold – in this case, less than $919 per DALY in Kenya.

When interventions cost more than this threshold – as in the case of the 50% and 70% coverage scenarios – it suggests that policymakers should focus on efforts that save more lives for lower costs.

“This critical analysis can help us sharpen our focus as we try and balance COVID vaccination campaigns with other essential health programs,” said Prof Joachim Osur, Public Health Specialist and the Vice Chancellor, Amref International University. “It is time to integrate COVID fully into our regular health system, so we can right-size our COVID-19 vaccine program while also regaining ground against other infectious diseases, such as HIV, TB and malaria.”

In Africa, only 15% of the population has received two vaccine doses and vaccination campaigns have slowed across the continent due to a low demand for doses as well as gaps in the delivery systems needed to roll them out.

Kenya’s campaign began in March 2021, one year after the first recorded case and more than 17 million doses have been administered since then – covering 15% of the total population. Currently the country aims to vaccinate 100% of all adults by the end of 2022.

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The spirit of “harambee” was the basis for its establishment – to bring together the private sector, individual citizens, non-state actor organizations and the Government to contribute ideas, resources, and action towards supporting Covid-19 mitigation measures.

The facts are as follows:

1. The Covid-19 Fund Board was formed as a private sector entity to drive rapid mobilisation of resources to help deal with the Covid-19 pandemic. The fund received cash and in-kind contributions from well-wishers, corporate bodies, multinational institutions. The total amount was Kshs 2.6 billion in cash and an equivalent of Kshs 0.5 billion, mainly in form of food.
2. Contributions to the fund were from, among others, Equity Group Foundation (Kshs 1.1 billion), Safaricom (Kshs 250 million), KCB (Kshs 150 million), ABSA (Kshs 150 million), Co-operative Bank (Kshs 100 million) and NCBA (Kshs 100 million).The Fund did not receive any monies from the Exchequer: any receipts from Government agencies were collated as personal donations.
3. These fund identified two priority pillars: health and livelihood/welfare interventions. On the health pillar the fund prioritised supporting local manufacturing for building capacity in the spirit of ‘Buy Kenya, Build Kenya’. For instance, the procurement of all PPEs was done from local manufacturers with the technical support of Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU) to drive quality. This approach stimulated of the local economy and delivered significant cost efficiencies. On livelihoods, at the height of the pandemic we supported over 100,000 families with stipends and food.
4. The Fund Board adopted utmost transparency and good corporate governance with various committees set up (including Audit, Fundraising, Livelihood and Procurement committees).   All services of the Board Members, Fund Secretariat, private sector professionals, health sector experts, audit firms and other actors offered their services on a pro-bono basis .
5. The Fund Board is incorporated as a company limited by guarantee. In view of the public interest nature of the Fund’s raison d’être, the Fund Board approved, and subjected the full operations and activities of the Fund to audit by the Auditor General. The Audit Report did not raise any concerns or adverse finding with respect to the financial statements, integrity of procedures adopted, transparency of information provided, or the value for money aspects of the Fund’s operations and chosen interventions.
6. The Fund continues to support Covid-related provision of PPEs to designated health institutions totalling 116, faith-based mission hospitals and county designated COVID-19 facilities.

The Board would like to thank all the well-wishers and institutions that have supported us so far and all volunteers who continue to support the activities of the Fund.

The Fund Board regrets the misunderstanding that has been occasioned by the recent coverage as relates to its operations. We have exercised our role prudently and diligently – and we are proud of the broad set of interventions executed by the Fund that have helped the most vulnerable Kenyans during this challenging time.

For any clarification/s, please reach out to the Secretariat through Clinton on 0702 000044.

Kenya COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund Secretariat

January 27, 2022

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At the same time, for 59 per cent of respondents, COVID-19 has diminished their confidence in their finances, preventing them from taking the actions necessary to achieve their new goals.

COVID-19 has prompted the affluent in Kenya to become more future-focused when resetting their priorities: more than half have set the goal to ‘to improve my health’ (57 per cent) and to ‘to set aside more for my children’s future’ (57 per cent).

To meet these new goals, the affluent need new strategies to grow their wealth, which often involves more proactive investment rather than just saving cash.

However, their current ‘confidence gap’ has made many increasingly averse to risk, potentially stopping them from putting their money to work through investing or making use of digital tools that simplify wealth management.

The ‘confidence gap’ is greater among the emerging affluent

The emerging affluent have disproportionately suffered a loss of confidence, with 61 per cent reporting less confidence compared with 24 per cent of HNW individuals. That means those lower down the wealth spectrum, still establishing their finances, stand to lose out more if they do not have the support to rebuild their confidence.

For the affluent across the wealth spectrum in Kenya, the three most common factors impacting their confidence were ‘volatility in financial markets (38 percent), ‘fear of poor returns on investments (37 percent) and ‘insufficient information about specific investment opportunities (32 percent).

Retirement is at risk

A late start to retirement planning, combined with the pandemic-induced confidence gap, leaves a significant proportion of affluent consumers at risk of a shortfall for their retirement. In Kenya, 17 per cent of people do not currently save/invest for retirement. For those that do, ‘investment income’ (62 per cent) and ‘cash savings’ (38 per cent) are the most common expected sources of income. At the same time, 45 per cent plan to retire before the age of 65 and 22 per cent have set a new goal to retire early. This shows a disconnect between current actions and future expectations if a confidence gap is holding them back from investing.

A pro-active approach can help the affluent regain control

Globally, almost all (94 per cent) of investors who had tried more than five new investments or investment strategies reported being happy with their finances.

Whether it is diversifying into new asset classes, new investment strategies to rebalance their portfolios, or exploring sustainable investing, the survey revealed that more hands-on investors are happier with their finances.

This trend is mirrored in Kenya, where 95 per cent of those who have made five or more changes to their portfolios following the pandemic are happier with their finances.

Paul Njoki, Head of Wealth Management, Standard Chartered, said: “Saving in cash will not cover longer lifespans and new priorities, so it is essential for the affluent to invest for the long term. They need to take charge of their finances and build diversified investment portfolios to meet their new goals, including a comfortable and timely retirement. If they do not act now, they may stand to miss out.”

He added: “Affluent consumers across the wealth spectrum can benefit from professional advice to help them manage their finances. We hope this report raises awareness of the risks posed by the confidence gap and are committed to helping by offering personalised advice and convenient digital access to the wealth management solutions most suited to their goals.”

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“Emirates SkyCargo remains committed to the rapid distribution of COVID-19 vaccines to vulnerable communities around the world. When we formulated our COVID-19 distribution strategy in 2020, Emirates SkyCargo prioritised the movement of COVID-19 vaccines through our Dubai hub to developing countries. I’m happy to announce that nearly two thirds of the total vaccines we transported were headed to destinations in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. With our extensive reach across six continents, our wide-body capacity and expertise in cool chain logistics, Emirates SkyCargo will continue to be a reliable partner for the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines in the months to come,” said Nabil Sultan, Emirates Divisional Senior Vice President, Cargo.

With the increasing roll-out of vaccination and booster campaigns across global markets, Emirates SkyCargo witnessed a steady increase in the demand for transportation of COVID-19 vaccines in the second half of 2021. In October and November 2021 alone, Emirates SkyCargo moved more than 200 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines, almost one third of the total COVID-19 vaccines transported by the carrier since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Key highlights of Emirates SkyCargo’s COVID-19 vaccine transportation programme:

• Close to 2.8 million kilograms (2800 tonnes) of vaccines transported on Emirates flights, equivalent to nearly 600 million doses since October 2020.
• Vaccines flown from 35 origins to 80 destinations across six continents.
• 7 million – most number of COVID-19 vaccine doses moved on a single flight.
• Asia (185 million doses), Africa (150 million doses) and the Middle East (70 million doses) continue to be priority markets for vaccine delivery.
• North America and Europe are the main origin regions for COVID-19 vaccines for Emirates SkyCargo.
• Emirates SkyCargo’s GDP certified pharma terminal in Chicago has handled more than 160 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines flown from the US to countries around the world.

Emirates SkyCargo has been a key global player in the air distribution of COVID-19 vaccines and other relief materials and essential commodities during the COVID-19 pandemic. The air cargo carrier offers sophisticated cool chain solutions for pharmaceutical cargo with Emirates Pharma – a specialised three-tiered air transportation product designed for temperature sensitive pharmaceuticals and backed by Emirates’ state of the art GDP certified pharma infrastructure at its cargo hub in Dubai. In June 2021, Emirates SkyCargo expanded its pharma cool chain infrastructure at Dubai International Airport, allowing it to store an additional estimated 60-90 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines.

Emirates SkyCargo offers cargo capacity on more than 2,800 weekly flights connecting more than 140 destinations across six continents.

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“The changes will among other things, re-examine the various roles played by each of its (Kemsa) employees and redesigning those roles so as to achieve the objective of the restructuring and align the roles to the approved staff numbers.” the notice read in part.

“The said exercise may lead to some or all positions as presently constituted being rendered redundant,” the notice continued.

The looming staff reorganization is part of changes being put in place by the new board led by Mary Chao Mwadime which was appointed on the 28th of April 2021. The board is seeking to streamline the organization’s finances and inefficiencies affecting supply chain, warehousing and procurement.

Employees at KEMSA have in the past few weeks suffered anxiety as they contemplated their fate. A staff member who spoke to us on condition of anonymity explained to this writer that staff have been breaking down in the offices fearing for their jobs.

“The last few weeks have been tough. I have seen people crying in the washrooms and inside their cars. Today, we have finally come face to face with that fate. Many of us do not even know what we are going to do,”she says.

The reorganization process is expected to take one month, and KEMSA has in the meantime directed all employees to work from home starting tomorrow.

“In view of the foregoing, the KEMSA board deems it fit to implement a working from home mode. This letter, therefore, directs that all staff work from home with effect from 05 November 2021 except for staff tasked with essential services,” the notice said.

The new board has also put in place a caretaker management team which will be in charge of the day-to-day running of the institution as consultations take place over the next one month.

“The core operating teams under a caretaker management team have been notified, appointed and mobilised to ensure seamless operations in the intervening period. The Board confirms that the necessary interventions have been put in place to avoid undue disruptions to service delivery and day to day operations,” said Ms Mwadime in a statement.

There have been rumours that President Kenyatta’s administration is looking at handing over the agency either the NYS or to the military as it did with Kenya Meat Commission.

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According to the KEMSA acting CEO Mr. Edward Njoroge, the Authority has constituted a Covid-19 management Rapid Response Team to ensure the efficient supply of Physical Protective Equipment (PPE), among other medical supply items.

As directed by Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe earlier today, Njoroge confirmed that the Authority is well placed to respond to the immediate health facilities needs for Covid-19 management.

Working round the clock, the Covid-19 Rapid Response team at KEMSA, he said, is banking on information technology systems to ensure speedy order fulfilment to more than 8,000 health facilities countrywide.

“At KEMSA, we can confirm that we have a rapid response team to ensure that all orders placed with us by our clients from all the 47 counties are speedily processed and delivered. Our Covid-19 Rapid Response team is ensuring efficient order management through our Logistics Management Information System (LMIS) and the KEMSA e-mobile information technology solutions,” Njoroge said.

Already, KEMSA, he said, has optimized its distribution system to ensure doorstep delivery at all health facility levels nationally. The Authority has decentralized its distribution channel into four zones to enhance service delivery by reducing turnaround time.

“All the distributions zones have been suitably equipped and resourced to ensure that they can guarantee similar service levels to that provided from our Nairobi central warehouses. To address the Covid-19 challenges, at KEMSA, the Board, Management, and Staffing force are committed to achieving excellence in procurement, warehousing, and distribution of quality, affordable Health Products and Technologies (HPTs) to the public health facilities,” Njoroge explained.

Through the decentralized system, KEMSA’s Kisumu distribution zone serves nineteen counties. Mombasa serves six counties, and Meru serves 11 counties in the Northern frontier, with other counties served from the Nairobi central stores.

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The affected counties are Kisumu, Siaya, Busia, Bungoma, Vihiga, Trans-Nzoia, Kericho, Bomet, Kisii, Nyamira, Migori and Homabay.

Burials within 72 hours

Other measures put in place include an order to have all burials within 72 hours of confirmation of death, restricting funeral attendance to 50, ban on in-person worship, ban on non-food item markets and attendees for weddings and other traditional functions have been capped at 30.

In a rather unclear directive, the government also says that “Except for essential and emergency services, movement between the hotspot Zone and the rest of the country is strongly discouraged.”

While in previous directives the government has clearly ordered for cessation of movement as a means of containing the pandemic in areas that have been designated as disease hotspots, the use of the phrase “strongly discouraged” has left many wondering what the directive means and how it will be enforced.

The 13 counties that have been designated as a “disease hotspot” have in the past 14 days registered a positivity rate of 21%, which is more than double the national average of 9%.

Walking on the streets of Kisumu and indeed several parts of the Lake Basin region, you will hardly think that we are in the heart of a deadly pandemic that has now cost us the lives of 3,308 Kenyans.

Very few are wearing face masks, those who are, doing so incorrectly. It is not uncommon to see the face masks on people’s chins, or others donning extremely dirty ones that beyond Covid-19 puts them at risk of contracting other hygiene-related ailments.

Why would there be such a lackluster attitude towards the pandemic and the containment measures put in place by authorities?

Impact on livelihoods

Covid-19 has in many ways disrupted what was considered normal. The most affected are people’s livelihoods.

According to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, Kenya has a large and growing informal sector, which contributed 83.6% of total employment in 2018 and 33.8% of GDP in 2015.

Most of the jobs in this sector rely on personal interactions – trading in markets, small restaurants in towns and peri-urban centers, bars and night clubs, events and the transport sector among others. All these are in one way or the other affected by containment measures.

In a case like ours where the government has not offered any meaningful subsidies to those affected by the pandemic and its containment measures, there will no doubt be a reluctance to comply. Entrepreneurs have been put in a situation where they have to choose between dying of hunger which is imminent and contracting/ facilitating the spread of the virus which is only a probability.

Corrupt enforcers

The corrupt nature of our enforcement mechanisms is not making things easier. This is why it is not uncommon to see crowded nightclubs in Kisumu and other towns in the region operating beyond the stipulated time. At times with police officers parked right outside the premises protecting the revellers.

I don’t need to explain to you how that contributes to the surge in numbers we are witnessing in the region, I will be belabouring the point.

It is however not just businessmen and enforcement agencies who are ignoring the containment measures. To some level, we have all been careless at some point (to different degrees). I know I have, so I will not sit here on a high horse and pass blanket judgement.

Covid-19 fatigue

We have attended a funeral that exceeded the allowed limit, attended a wedding, went to church or other places of worship where the protocols were not being strictly adhered to, heck even attended house parties or gone to a nightclub.

We crave what we knew as normal. Many of us are exhausted both mentally and physically. We have lost livelihoods, we lost loved ones and it is understandable.

After a year of this pandemic where phrases such as “stay at home,” “flatten the curve” and “social distancing” have become part of our daily vocabulary. Many people are experiencing a type of burnout experts call COVID-19 fatigue. This, experts say, at times drive people to act in reckless ways.

Defiance by all

But like I pointed out last week in the first bit of this two-part series, the actions of those entrusted with formulating policies that are supposed to keep us safe are not inspiring us to adhere to the containment protocols.

With our lives disrupted, economic constraints checking-in, conspiracy theories bombarding us at every corner of social media we turn to and mental fatigue, politicians running around the country doing exactly what they are asking us not to and others looting funds meant to help the vulnerable, it’s difficult to blame people for having the attitude they have towards the pandemic.

The unfortunate net effect of this is that we are going to see the increase in cases that we are witnessing in the Lake Basin region. Worse still, they will result in deaths – mortalities that are increasingly becoming people we know and not just numbers we see in the evening news bulletins.

Back to Kisumu, the current wave we are experiencing is not surprising. There were warnings about it and it could have been avoided. Those we tasked with the duty to protect us failed.

But as if they did not learn anything from this, another round of political activity is set for the lower regions of Easter Kenya in the next week. Predictably, after the political bigwigs leave, the region will have to contend with an upsurge of cases, overstretched healthcare system and new containment measures put in place. Never mind that officially political gatherings are banned.

For us to successfully contain this pandemic, we must all learn to adhere to the laid down procedures. The rules have to be applied to all and sundry. Not a separate set for the leaders and a totally different one for the masses. We are all tired, we are all inconvenienced and as long as we have disproportionate enforcement of the measures we will have defiance in all corners. After all, there are not enough policemen to follow everyone around. We don’t want to get there.

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The camera pans across the Covid-19 isolation ward in Kisumu. Long shot images of patients. All the beds are occupied. The patient at the front has an oxygen tube in her nose. A woman seemingly in her mid-50s.

“I have seen seven people die by my side, and you think that the next minute you are also going,” says a gentleman in a white vest. He is seated on his bed, he seems to be recovering. His worst nightmare passed. From his facial expression, he looks relieved.

These are images from an NTV feature promo titled “Fighting for Breath,” which airs tomorrow evening. They are chilling. They tell the story of a struggling healthcare system in a city that has become the latest epicentre of Kenya’s Covid-19 pandemic.

These images as chilling as they are, only tell half the story. A quick scan through social media pages will give you the impression of a city in mourning. Everyone is losing someone to the pandemic. The numbers are no longer statistics but names and faces we know.

“Two of my close friends just lost their beloved parents to Covid-19 today. The situation in Kisumu regarding the pandemic is worse than we know or we are told,” writes Vic Mabeya in a Facebook post.

How did Kisumu get here?

There are many explanations for this, but allow me to tell you what role your favourite politician played…either by acts of omission or commission.

Wastage of Covid-19 funds

It is regrettable that almost a year and a half since the pandemic started, Kisumu does not have enough isolation beds for Covid-19 patients. There are reports of critically ill patients being turned away from public hospitals, while private hospitals charge an average of KES 300,000 before they can admit any patient. Worse, Covid-19 is not covered by normal health insurance.

While counties received funds in April 2020 to prepare for an upsurge in infections, most of these funds were misused. A report by the Auditor General indicted counties for mismanaging KES 13.8 billion of the monies allocated to them for fighting the pandemic.

All the 47 counties (including Kisumu) awarded private firms contracts to purchase medical items without following public procurement procedures. The report also cites cases where senior county officials gave contracts to their associates without in clear contravention of procurement regulations.

Most of these counties bought overpriced items, wasting funds that could have been of much help today.

Doublespeak

Politicians in their usual sense are the masters of double-speak. This pandemic has just highlighted that. While in podiums they castigate Kenyans for not treating the pandemic seriously, in action they have promoted the same disregard for the pandemic.

Not even the death of a couple of members of parliament and the near-brush with death for others seem to influence a change of heart.

It is quite interesting that none other than the President himself indicted the country’s politicians, including himself for their role in spreading the virus.

Speaking in October last year at the heart of the second wave of Kenya’s pandemic, President Uhuru Kenyatta singled out politicians – including himself for their role in getting the country where it was.

“In October only, we have had over 15 000 new cases of corona infections and approximately 300 deaths according to the national multi-agency command centre on Covid- 19,” he said.

Different rules

He attributed the rise in infections at the time to increased political activities in the country. These were mainly rallies in support or opposition to the push to amend the country’s constitution through the BBI process. Politicians from across the political divide used every opportunity to gather crowds by the roadside or during government events and drummed their narratives to jubilant supporters, most of whom were neither wearing masks or exercising any form of social distancing.

This was the case in Kisumu in October 2020 when the President and former Prime Minister, Raila Odinga, addressed two huge rallies in Kisumu. What followed was weeks of increased infections in the lakeside city.

While on paper political gatherings and large burials are prohibited, this rule seems to only apply to a section of the political class. We have witnessed large campaigns across the country, especially during by-elections.

We have seen large funeral gatherings held for politicians, and their relatives. A case in point was the burial to the mother of ANC Leader Musalia Mudavadi. An event attended by almost the entire political class in this country. It’s was however not just them, thousands of mourners also attended.

The former Prime Minister who is at the helm of the constitutional change bid was until early this year crisscrossing the country with his BBI gospel. Before he was himself hospitalized after testing positive for the virus, he was holding rallies, conferences and so on. At times appearing in public not wearing a face mask.

The Deputy President while appearing to be avoiding public rallies has held events at his Karen home, inviting hundreds of youths at a time.

Madaraka Day in Kisumu

Most recently during the Madaraka day celebrations in Kisumu, thousands gathered at the Jomo Kenyatta stadium. Even though they had face masks that were being given to all for free, very few seemed to be wearing them correctly – effectively beating the purpose. This event was held in Kisumu despite rising cases of infections; most attributed to the Indian variant.

On their way from the stadium, politicians got out of their vehicles to acknowledge greetings from supporters.

Medics are currently warning that the next two weeks will be critical in Kisumu.

Other than directly providing avenues for a surge in the spread of the virus, many people look up to politicians for leadership. When the government advises the citizens to take precautions but act in a contrary way, many tend to doubt the seriousness of the pandemic. Especially at a time when social media is also rife with conspiracies.

It’s therefore not surprising to see members of the public locking themselves up in bars to drink in clear disregard to laid down containment protocols. You can’t blame them.

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Today, Magare is already a very busy doctor running two Equity Afia clinics in Nakuru and Kisii, serving the public at Nyahururu County Hospital and Occasionally working at Nakuru’s Aga Khan hospital.

I caught up with him last week, and we talked about his childhood, repeating form four despite scoring A- and his life as the Medical Officer in Charge of two Equity Afia clinics.

Tell me about your life growing up as a child in rural Kisii.

I am the last born in a polygamous family. I am the 16th Child of my father, but 7th of my mother. I was born preterm at 32 weeks and raised in a local incubator, just next to the fire-place under the care of a traditional birth attendant called Milkah. How I survived that was by God’s grace.

We grew under difficult conditions, but there was always enough foo; Kisii being very productive and my mother together with my siblings providing the workforce. My father’s meagre salary as a primary school teacher would not sustain the large family to get a modest living. Clothing was never a consideration when growing up. We only had school uniforms which we would put on 24/7. This meant that our uniforms were always torn at the back. As a family we were despised, a factor that really affected my self-esteem till after I joined university. The sad bit was that even our fellow brothers and sisters in poverty could mock us and make fun of our situation. The only shoe I knew was ‘sandak’- a form of plastic shoe which would really get hot and roast our feet under the sun.

Did you always want to be a doctor as a child?

I had never thought of becoming a doctor, I wanted to be an electronic and communication engineer.

At what point did that change to medicine?

I have always known what I wanted in life. However, choosing a career was one of the most challenging decisions I ever made. After doing my KCSE and scoring an A- (78 points) I got an admission to Masinde Muliro University Of Science and Technology (MMUST) to pursue electrical and communications engineering.

I was happy because that was my second option after aeronautical Engineering and my brother had just graduated from the same university with BSc. Computer science. However, things took another turn after having a chat with my other brother who is a doctor and had graduated from the University of Nairobi. He had just completed his internship. I was curious to understand more about life in medical school. He took me on a tour to Chiromo anatomy laboratory where he showed me the cadavers, which he told me they would dissect and use to understand the human body. It is at this point that I decided that I wanted to become a doctor.

The was one problem though. I had not passed my KCSE well enough to get admission to medical school as a regular student. There was also no way I would afford to study medicine under the self-sponsorship program owing to our humble background.

I had to make a tough decision. I went back to form 4 with only one aim, to fill up the remaining 6 points and score an A plain of 84 points. That way I would be assured of joining The University of Nairobi and pursuing medicine. I did exactly that and scored my 84 points a year later, and my journey to becoming a doctor began.

How was life for you in medical school, did you at some point contemplate quitting or changing courses?

Having been raised in poverty, I knew nothing comes easy. It was a tough life but it had to be done. Initially, I was discouraged because I was used to scoring 90% and above in high school but coming to medical school, everyone struggling to score just 50% which was the cut-off marks to proceed to the next level.

Sleepless nights of solo reading and group discussions characterized our stay at the university, especially in pre-medical school (year 1 and 2). Some days we would envy our colleagues studying engineering and humanities because they got to enjoy campus life while we typically lived in the library.

However, as we went up into the senior medical school, things become easier as we became stronger and adaptive. At this point, I had to look for something to toughen my life. I joined campus politics and became a congressman (In charge of a hostel) and later became the campus Representative for the Medical School campus in the SONU executive.

You are an alumnus of the Equity Leadership Programme, how did you end up in the programme to start with?

The programme targets the top KCSE candidates (best boy and best girl) from each sub-county in which the bank has a branch; and the best candidate in each subject nationally. I did my KCSE at Kanga School which is Migori county. I was the best in the county but unfortunately, Equity Bank by then did not have a branch in the sub-county. However, I was the best student in Biology nationally, and that’s how I joined the programme.

How did being part of the leadership program shape your career path?

Initially, everything was revolving around myself. It was about what I could gain. It was about me being the best. But joining the program has taught me that we get more satisfaction by serving others. By making others happy. By humbling ourselves. Unlike in the past, now I would reschedule an activity to just go and participate in a communal service.

It has strengthened my resolve to continue pursuing health programs that benefit people and society in general. Working towards equality in society. It has also helped me in managing my time well. That is how I am able to work at the public hospital in Nyahururu and also see patients at Equity Afia in Nakuru and Kisii or other private facilities I work in without discriminating on my patients based on their economic status.

Other than medical school and the leadership program, you also hold academic credentials from the University of Washington and the University of Illinois, how have you been able to juggle all that?

We have 24 hours in a day. It’s up to an individual to see how many hours they can put into use. There are those who will restrict themselves to 8hours and ignore 16 hours. Provided I get the 3 am to 7 am sleep, I am good to go. This is the best time for me to sleep and reflect. The rest is sufficient for my other activities. Also, when in public I have learnt to be in good moods as this prepares me for the next activity withot getting fatigued.

You have worked in both the private and public health sector, now you are running your second Equity Afia clinic. What do you find unique about Equity Afia’s approach to the provision of healthcare?

The Equity Afia Model is a masterpiece. It rekindles hope and provides what we can call high end services at a very affordable cost. Its focus on quality, affordable and accessible healthcare stands out and complements other key players in the sector especially the government.

At 30 years you have already accomplished quite a lot and the future looks even brighter for you, what are some of the lessons that you have gained along the way?

I am just trying my best but I have learnt the power of patience, discipline and collaborations. The future will depend on the networks we create in our day-to-day activities. I have also learnt to treat everyone equally regardless of how society perceives them.

If you were not a doctor today, what else would you be doing with your life? 

I would have ended up working in the electronic or communications engineering field as a programmer. There is however a part of me that also toyed with the idea of becoming a catholic priest.

Do you get to have free time, how do you spend it?

My free time is divided between service to community, family and personal hobbies. Like in this era of Covid-19 I do a lot of sensitization to the public about the disease. I also enjoy spending with my wife and our four-year-old son who I named after the former president of Ghanat and also after my dad, Jerry Rawlings Magare Magara.

This is the time I also read medical journals or call my patients and get to know how they are doing. I like interacting with people so you may at times find me at the local joints playing pool table.

If I am just home, you will find me watching Flaqo’s comedy videos and laughing my head off. That stuff never gets old.

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