The informal settlements and slums in urban centres of Uganda contain vulnerable communities with low access to water, healthcare and sanitation.
Whether somebody wishes to believe it or not, the battle for taming the spread of COVID-19 will either be largely won or lost in urban places. There is now clear evidence that, COVID-19 is here with us especially in urban places, and is not anywhere close to becoming an insignificant global and national threat.
There is no doubt that COVID-19 is already affecting all Sustainable Development Goals. Even with this knowledge the success or failure of national governments across the world to tame COVID-19 will be largely witnessed in cities, towns and rural growth centres or rural centralities.
Therefore, the Uganda National Taskforce just like many other African country teams fighting Coronavirus, should also pay critical attention to the nitty-gritty of SDG 11 (sustainable cities and settlements). Urban experts should consider making a relatively new contribution to the great work that is already being done by health and other experts, on COVID-19.
It is important to bring into the COVID-19 elimination equation, – new urban planning agenda, because an analysis of the current statistics is revealing that, more urbanized countries in north and South Africa have, already the highest cases of infection compared to, for instance, a least urbanized region of East Africa. Other more rapidly urbanizing countries in Africa such as; D.R.Congo, Nigeria, Cameroon, Mauritius, Senegal, Burkina-Faso, Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire are equally experiencing rapid increase in cases of COVID19. From a spatial perspective, it could be argued that probably, these countries’ patterns of urban development are less robust to manage epidemics and pandemics generally.
From the foregoing, fighting the spread of COVID19 is likely to remain an uphill task because in Uganda, 60% of urban settlements are informal. Most of the populations live in dangerous housing facilities where family houses and rooms have too many occupants. Some urbanites do not even have any home accommodation to isolate themselves into, let alone compounds for outdoor activities. Moreover, the absence of power, coupled with poor drainage systems and solid waste management systems in these informal neighborhoods force many of these slum dwellers to stay away from their homes. The visible presence of a number of men and youth congregated within neighborhoods and on some streets/roads of Kampala and other towns in the country especially during this COVID-19 lockdown period is a clear testimony to lack of or poor housing/town planning situation in Uganda.
In addition to poor solid waste and drainage management, the informal settlements and slums in urban centres of Uganda contain vulnerable communities with low access to water, healthcare and sanitation. Concentrations constitute a risk. The greatest percentage of the population at risk in such areas are the physically challenged, children, women, elders, and youth. Therefore, unless COVID-19 measures in Uganda (as of 30th March 2020) like stay at home campaigns, closure of learning institutions, restrictions/ban on public gatherings and social distancing are augmented with progressive urban planning actions , Uganda just like many other African countries will find it difficult to tame the spread of coronavirus within its territory.
There is a close relationship between poor and/or lack of urban planning and the astronomical spread of some of the top ten major public health risks in Uganda. These public health risks include; lower respiratory infections, HIV/AIDS, Diarrheal diseases, malaria, preterm birth complications, birth asphyxia and trauma, congenital anomalies, tuberculosis, road injury and neonatal sepsis/infections. Out of all these public health risks mentioned, lower respiratory conditions and HIV represent the top two causes of both morbidity and mortality. A number of people within these informal urban neighborhoods in Uganda are already suffering in one way or another with some of these diseases mentioned. This situation further complicates the efforts towards reducing the spread of COVID19.
In conclusion the COVID-19 therefore presents an important opportunity for Uganda and other least developed countries to rethink their urban planning outputs and to rectify the quality of existing urban landscapes.
The government should create special urban planning task force and make available especially to the slum dwellers, more public spaces. In addition, government should train city/town dwellers on viable urban agriculture methods and ensure that basic services (WASH) are available to all, including informal settlements. Urban planning and Geographic Information System mapping teams should be set up in each district to map, analyze and predict the spread of, and mitigation of COVID-19. And finally, government ought to develop mechanisms for dealing with the likely pressure on access to land, adequate housing and risk of evictions, with a focus on those already without access to begin with, especially the slum dwellers and homeless people.
Source: newvision
