Covid-19 in Kenya: Global Health, Human Rights and the State in a Time of Pandemic

An AHRC-Funded Collaborative Research Project

COVID-19 is a point of inflection for democracy, social justice and sustainable development throughout the global south, a moment where new constitutions and wider political reforms, put in place in the period since the end of the Cold War, have come under intense pressure. In responding to this challenge, it will be essential to map, analyse and critique the legal and extra-legal bases for state responses, to document their impact on ordinary citizens, and to develop an integrated, theoretically informed framework to allow future comparative studies.

The project focuses on three key factors for development: human rights resilience, public health and social change, and global governance and state formation. As well as briefings, webinars and academic papers, this project will also produce a documentary film, giving direct voice to informal settlement dwellers, and a comic to encapsulate their experiences.

Covid-19 in Kenya: Global Health, Human Rights and the State in a Time of Pandemic is led by John Harrington, Professor of Global Health, Cardiff Law School and Cardiff Law and Global Justice in collaboration with Dr Elizabeth Kimani Murgage, African Population and Health Research Centre (APHRC), Christine Nkonge, Katiba Institute and James Smart, Journalist and Producer.