We Are Living in a Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, and Ambiguous World

Earlier this year, you held a retreat at which you addressed the VUCA World. Can you elaborate on what that is?

We are living in a Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, and Ambiguous (VUCA) world. Every leader in the 21^st century must be prepared to lead and navigate in the VUCA environment. At the time we were equipping our team to thrive through the turbulence brought about by reduction in funding, high expectations to demonstrate value for money, and the ever-changing operating landscape by being visionary, agile and flexible to quickly adapt to the ever-changing environment.

Though we never envisioned having such a drastic change that has been brought about by COVID-19, I am happy that this equipped our staff to cope in VUCA environment including the current COVID-19 situation.

What this pandemic has done is really to test the health systems because clearly what we are talking about is the basics. I see this situation as a real test for universal health coverage. I urge governments to pick up the lessons from this pandemic and invest more in health systems and particularly public health.

I urge governments to pick up the lessons from this pandemic and invest more in health systems and particularly public health. Eliud Mwangi

My prayer is that the investments we have seen in health will not stop with COVID but will continue in a strategic, systematic, structured and sustainable manner. This will ensure countries not only provide better health care for their citizens in the interim but also are better prepared to cope with the next pandemic when it presents.

Do you have any concerns about disruptions to the supply chain?

We are stable for most of the antiretroviral medications. The fear that I have mainly is not the short supply of ARVs, but of HIV-related testing. This is the access to viral load testing, access to PCR [polymerase chain reaction] testing for early infant diagnosis and drug resistance testing. This is because the same labs that do these tests have now been prioritized for COVID diagnosis. The HIV tests has therefore been reduced to only essential tests for PMTCT mothers, children, and patients failing treatment. This will negatively impact HIV programming in the long run.

I’m wondering about how EGPAF is educating about COVID in Turkana County where EGPAF runs an innovative TB program.

We are part of the county taskforce for fighting COVID. The county has put in place stringent measures to combat COVID-19 and sensitize its population. I am happy to note that so far, there is no reported case in the County.

The National TB program issued guidance for all those patients presenting with COVID-like symptoms—the fever, the cough, and so on—also to be screened for TB because the symptoms are similar. So we are leveraging on that to ensure that even as clients with those symptoms are being screened for COVID, they are also being screened for TB. And I believe that is going to help possibly with diagnosis. In our set up, when somebody presents with these symptoms, it’s more likely to be TB as opposed to COVID-19, and hence should not be missed.

How has the work of EGPAF over the years help prepare Kenya for this moment?

EGPAF through funding from the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief [PEPFAR]—has really created quite a lot of systems on the ground in terms of strengthening laboratory networking and the commodity supply chain and investing in significant human resources at the facility level. And all these are coming in handy to support in the fight against COVID-19.

The infrastructure that has been established through the funding from PEPFAR, EGPAF, and other partners has greatly contributed in this fight. Eliud Mwangi

Even the health care workers helping to fight this epidemic would be minimal otherwise—because we support almost 50 percent of healthcare workers in the areas where we work. The infrastructure that has been established through the funding from PEPFAR, EGPAF, and other partners has greatly contributed in this fight.

You’re the captain of the ship; you have the responsibility for the entire EGPAF program in Kenya. I’m wondering what you do to cope with the enormity of this situation as you direct the program.

I must admit that it is draining physically, psychologically, and emotionally. Fortunately, I have a very supportive family support system. During this period, I have managed one hour of jumping with my young ones, which has been a routine exercise. This makes me forgot about what is happening, relax, and enjoy a normal life.

I also count myself lucky to have a very strong leadership team who support me and the rest of the organization. With this support system both at work and home I must confess it has made a difficult situation manageable.

A luta continua in the fight for an HIV-free Generation!

I’m finding it every day that I’m looking forward to tomorrow because we are overcoming the challenges. The teams are motivated; they want to do the best they can. We have protected them, and we are continuing our work.

A luta continua in the fight for an HIV-free Generation!