They say great leaders emerge during a period of crisis. And you do not need a title to become a leader. All you need are the challenges of the times which you embrace and find novel solutions to address them. A solution that is most effective at solving the problem at the cheapest costs, the more novel and innovative it is.
The #covid19 pandemic is a leadership test of our time: who will stand taller and lead the world out of this pandemic?
This is not the time for pointing fingers. It is a time for global collaboration to find a lasting solution to humanity’s topmost challenge.
What the world needs:
- A cure for #covid19.
Researchers world over are working around the clock to find the medicine. It is reported that over 35 top universities and private companies are involved in the research to find a cure. Others are repurposing the existing medicines to cure the new virus. Unfortunately, before producing a medicine, it must undergo several tests and clinical trials. We have some time to wait for a solution. Already, major clinical trials are giving hope that the malaria drug, despite the documented several side effects, could be repurposed for coronavirus.
In the meantime, the best way to stay safe in the virus is prevention. There is no specific treatment for coronavirus. The bad news is that even the mighty anti-biotics, to not help. Antibiotics do not work against viruses! For now, stay indoors in isolation so that you don’t infect others if you have it or don’t get it from others if you are still safe.
What are you doing to find a cure? What are you doing to help those in the search of a cure?
Sharing your profile, symptoms, and statistics could go a long way in finding a solution.
- #covid19 patient support
The coronavirus takes over the good cells of a sick person through reproducing and multiplying. If the host’s immune system is found compromised or weak, the patients need life support especially the ventilators that support the person to breathe.
Now, old ventilator technology has been very expensive. For that reason, few ventilator machines exist in intensive care to support critically ill patients to breathe. In the whole of the United States, they reportedly have just 7,000 machines available in hospitals to serve a total of 327 million people!
With over 40,000 patients who need ventilator machines in the US alone, there is an urgent need to innovate cheaper and better ventilator alternatives than the old type.
Problems and challenges provide opportunities for innovation.
No researcher had considered cheaper and more novel ventilator machines. Why? They are a source of medical tourism – where rich people all over the world travel to the few countries with the machines in their hospitals.
Post covid19 we see a world with cheaper and more effective ventilators that are no longer available only in developed countries. This is the equalizer impact of the virus.
Most important, poor countries have learned their lessons. You must fix your internal health care systems. When a global pandemic arrives, countries will lock you out of their countries. If you did not invest in the health sector of your country, you will suffer just like your fellow countrymen in the face of a pandemic.
Covid19 has fast-tracked the world when it comes to remote working. Which digital solutions are you offering to small companies to leverage on remote working? Online learning has also been embraced in ways never seen before. As an education institution, how are you developing your digital learning capabilities to provide real-time progress monitoring to all your learners?
The world is indeed being rebooted by this virus. By the time the dust settles, parents will have learned more about their children and partners, embraced remote working, and connected deeper with their families – the essence of life.
Use this opportunity to offer a hand to someone in need.
I am hopeful that the world will come out of this better and stronger.
Copyright Mustapha B Mugisa, 2020. All rights reserved.
