Background The outbreak of COVID-19 has imposed many challenges on health systems. The purpose of this study was to describe the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the clinical activity of pediatricians. Methods We conducted a cross-sectional and descriptive online survey among pediatricians practicing in Cameroon. Data were collected through an anonymous pre-tested Google Form®. Results Among the 118 pediatricians eligible for the survey, 101 responded (85.6%), of whom 61.2% were women. The pediatric outpatient consultations dropped significantly from 60.4% of pediatricians seeing more than 30 patients per week before the pandemic to 9.9% during the pandemic ( P < 0.000). According to the occupancy rate of hospitalisation beds, 45.5% of pediatricians reported having 76–100% of pediatric hospitalisation beds occupied per week before the pandemic but no pediatrician reported a similar rate during the pandemic ( P < 0.000). There was a significant increase in the use of telehealth, ranging from no pediatrician using telehealth “very frequently” before the pandemic to 23.8% using it during the pandemic ( P < 0.000). Most of the pediatricians had at their disposal surgical masks (96%), care gloves (80.2%), hydroalcoholic gel (99.0%), and soap and water (86.1%). For the management of children, 90.1% and 71.3% of pediatricians experienced difficulties accessing COVID-19 PCR and chloroquine, respectively, and 74.3% declared difficulties for proper isolation of patients. More than half (65.3%) of the pediatricians interviewed were “very afraid” or “extremely afraid” of being infected with SARS-Cov-2, respectively 45.5% and 19.8%. The most frequent reasons included fear of infecting their relatives (85.1%) and of developing a severe form of the disease (43.6%). The reluctance to consult health services expressed by the parents was due to: fear of being infected when leaving their home and especially in the health facility (96%), strict compliance with confinement (30.7%), and financial difficulties of families (13.9%). Conclusion This work highlights the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the clinical activity of Cameroonian pediatricians. Since the beginning of the pandemic, there has been a significant drop in the use of health facilities, which probably has a negative impact on children's overall level of health. Although the preventive measures explain this drop in attendance at health facilities, the parents’ fear of being infected when leaving the house was the predominant reason likely to explain this drop in attendance at health facilities. This could constitute an axis for developing messages to parents to encourage a gradual return to child health services.

IntroductionThe use of oral rehydration solutions in our context remains limited. This study was conducted to analyze the rate of this use in Douala, Cameroon and thereby determine the factors associated with it. MethodA cross-sectional survey was administered to parents of children aged five years and younger during a six-month study period. The studied variables focused on the socio-demographic data of the population, data on diarrhoea and its severity, data on oral rehydration salts (ORS), and data related to other interventions for diarrhoea. The chi-square test was used to qualify associations between variables, with the significance level being set at 5%. ResultsOverall, 672 people agreed to participate in the study. Among them, 418 (62.2%) correctly defined diarrhoea. When their children develop diarrhoea, the majority of the parents (348, 51.8%) reported seeking hospital assistance before any intervention, while 225 parents (33.5%) preferred the use of ORS first. Four hundred seventy-five parents (70.7%) had heard of ORS and among them 313 (65.9%) had actually given ORS to their children as treatment during these children's most recent episodes of diarrhoea. Of the parents who had given their children ORS, 217 (69.3%) knew how to prepare it, and 122 (39.0%) knew how to administer it. One hundred thirty-five parents (20.1%) had administered metronidazole to treat their children's diarrhoea. The age of the children, the parents' level of education, and the number of children in the household significantly influenced the use or non-use of ORS (respectively, p < 0.001, p = 0.003 and p < 0.0001). Rehydration was correctly identified by 234 parents (34.8%) as the purpose of administering ORS. ConclusionThe knowledge and the use of ORS in diarrhoea by the study sample was insufficient. The role of ORS was poorly known. Awareness campaigns can be carried out in order to improve the use of this effective intervention for diarrhoea.

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Introduction: Cardiovascular diseases in pediatric pathologies have emerged in the recent years in

Background: Neonatal mortality remains a major public health problem in low income countries. The survival within the first 28 days of life remains a challenge in such countries. Many strategies have been implemented to reduce deaths in children under five especially in sub-Saharan Africa. Laquintinie Douala Hospital benefits from some of these measures including a perinatal network and an emergency voucher. We aimed to describe the main causes of neonatal deaths at Laquintinie Douala Hospital. Methods: We carried out a cross-sectional study including files of all deceased neonates in the neonatal unit during a 24 months period from January 1 st , 2017 to December 31 st , 2018. Data collection included socio-demographic characteristics of the mothers and the newborns, clinical and therapeutic data and the evolution of the newborn. We used SPSS 20 software for data analysis with a p-value less than 0.05. Results: We included 270 files with an overall mortality rate of 13.1% and a sex ratio of 1.2. The main causes of death included prematurity (37.8%), neonatal infection (34.1%) and neonatal asphyxia (24.4%). The main factors associated with deaths included informal sector (OR = 5.49; 95% CI 0.86 -34.77; p = 0.07) and a primary level of education for mothers, malaria during pregnancy (OR 2.28; 95% CI, 1.44 -3.12; p = 0.0001), very preterm babies (OR 6.45; 95% CI 4.68 -8.89; p < 0.001