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On 2nd November, 2021, Kenya marked 600 days since the first COVID-19 case was identified and diagnosed in the country, ‘imported'by a returning traveler from the US by way of London, UK. Since then, Kenya progressively took steps and implemented strategies at the individual, governmental, public health, societal and international levels to combat the pandemic. Some of the strategies mirrored those adopted elsewhere: curfews, lockdowns, masking, social-distancing, closure of high-contact areas such as educational and religious institutions, and political activity, banned by the government but still widely practised. This book examines the trajectory of COVID-19 in the country, the various responses that the government and the public have undertaken, how socio-cultural, political and religious beliefs and practices have affected contagion and constrained stopping its spread and assesses the impact of the pandemic on different constituencies. It focuses on the peculiar circumstances of the Kenyan society, such as high dependence on public transportation, religious affiliation, boarding educational institutions and political rallies in the context of the 2022 general elections in August 2022, and the superficiality of the responses. It also examines the progress and the setbacks that have manifested as a result of the gendered nature of the pandemic, work and societal beliefs, practices and strategies. This book illustrates one of the most peculiar habits adopted by Kenyans: the government mandated masks, but Kenyans, either disbelieving their effectiveness or unconcerned with the pandemic's seriousness, took to hanging a mask around the chin only so as to comply with the rules (and not potentially part with a bribe if caught by the police without a mask), or borrowing masks from others at the sight of police. The book also highlights the challenges of a vaccine-skeptic public and overreactions by government, implementing very little testing and requiring vaccinations in order for citizens to access government services, despite the availability being marginal.

This book examines the idea of a fundamental entitlement to health and healthcare from a human rights perspective.The volume is based on a particular conceptual reasoning that balances critical thinking and pragmatism in the context of a universal right to health. Thus, the primary focus of the book is the relationship or contrast between rights-based discourse/jurisprudential arguments and real-life healthcare contexts. The work sets out the constraints that are imposed on a universal right to health by practical realities such as economic hardship in countries, lack of appropriate governance, and lack of support for the implementation of this right through appropriate resource allocation. It queries the degree to which the existence of this legally enshrined right and its application in instruments such as the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) can be more than an ephemeral aspiration but can, actually, sustain, promote, and instil good practice. It further asks if social reality and the inequalities that present themselves therein impede the implementation of laudable human rights, particularly within marginalised communities and cadres of people. It deliberates on what states and global bodies do, or could do, in practical terms to ensure that such rights are moved beyond the aspirational and become attainable and implementable. Divided into three parts, the first analyses the notion of a universal inalienable right to health(care) from jurisprudential, anthropological, legal, and ethical perspectives. The second part considers the translation of international human rights norms into specific jurisdictional healthcare contexts. With a global perspective it includes countries with very different legal, economic, and social contexts. Finally, the third part summarises the lessons learnt and provides a pathway for future action.The book will be an invaluable resource for students, academics, and policymakers working in the areas of health law and policy, and international human rights law.