A Review of COVID-19 Response Challenges in Ethiopia

Abstract

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has positioned fragile healthcare systems in low-income countries under pressure, leading to critical gaps in service delivery. The pandemic response demands the healthcare system to be resilient and continue provision of healthcare services. This review is aimed at describing the healthcare response challenges during the pandemic in Ethiopia. Methodology: Eligible studies dealing with challenges of the healthcare system in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Ethiopia were included. The six World Health Organization (WHO) healthcare system building blocks were used to categorize healthcare challenges. PubMed ProQuest, databases were searched, and results were summarized using systematic review synthesis. Results: Financial constraints led to a shortage of mechanical ventilators. Furthermore, the pandemic hindered the capacity to avail full packages of personal protective equipment in health facilities and intensive care capacity. The pandemic also affected the delivery of maternal, child and new-born services, prevention, and treatment of childhood illness, including immunization services. Conclusions: The COVID-19 pandemic posed various challenges to the performance of the healthcare system in Ethiopia. It is recommended that policy makers and stakeholders enhance pandemic preparedness and strengthen response capacity by considering the six WHO healthcare system building blocks.

Molecular Epidemiology and Diversity of SARS-CoV-2 in Ethiopia, 2020–2022

“…Thus, the scaling up of local and regional pathogen genomic sequencing capacity and a robust pathogen genomic surveillance infrastructure is required to shorten the turnaround time and allow for early public health responses [ 38 , 42 ]. Additionally, during the onset of the pandemic, a survey on outbreak readiness highlighted a dire need for not only pathogen surveillance in Ethiopia, but Ethiopia further scored only 52% on the Ready Score Index, which shows that the nation still has to make progress to increase case tracing and identification, increase healthcare and testing facilities, provide clear operational guidelines on preventive measures across various organizations, businesses, and community settings, as well as proactive steps to maintain life during social and economic lockdowns [ 19 , 42 , 43 ]. Ethiopia, as with many other African countries, has limited resources to deal with these outbreaks and often depends on international aid to help control and prevent these diseases [ 23 , 44 ].…”

Impact of COVID‐19 measures on the health and healthcare of children in East‐Africa: Scoping review

“…Table 2 and Table 3 present the characteristics of these 70 studies 6,10–78 . Scale level: national ( n = 49), regional ( n = 21).…”

“…The measures should be targeted and contextualised. Not all regions in East‐Africa have the resources to facilitate these restrictions 6,10,11,14,15,17,23–29,31,34–39 . The authors also mention that the strategy of governments revolved too much on limiting the spread of COVID‐19 while losing sight of the impact this may have on vulnerable populations.…”

“…Nonetheless, the indirect effects already occurred and will outlive the COVID‐19 pandemic 11,24 . These indirect effects concern economic damage, reduced access to education, food insecurity, child abuse, reduced access to healthcare, reduced access to health programs, and mental health challenges 6,10–47 . Specific vulnerable subpopulations such as children will face these indirect effects on a larger extent 6,23,27,31,46,47 …”

Molecular Epidemiology and Diversity of SARS-CoV-2 in Ethiopia, 2020-2022

“…Thus, scaling up of local and regional pathogen genomic sequencing capacity and a robust pathogen genomic surveillance infrastructure is thus required to shorten the turnaround time and to allow for early public health response [34]. Additionally, during the onset of the pandemic, a survey on outbreak readiness highlighted a dire need for not only pathogen surveillance in Ethiopia but Ethiopia further scored only 52% on the Ready Score index, which shows that the nation still has progress to be made to increase case tracing and identification, increase healthcare and testing facilities, provide clear operational guidelines on preventive measures across various organizations, businesses, and community settings, as well as proactive steps to maintain life during social and economic lockdowns[3, 35]. Ethiopia, as with many other African countries, has limited resources to deal with these outbreaks, and often depends on international aid to help control and prevent these diseases [10, 36, 37].…”