COVID-19 Outbreak Situation in Nigeria and the Need for Effective Engagement of Community Health Workers for Epidemic Response

Abstract

The current Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) outbreak has affected over 200 countries including Nigeria. It is one of the largest respiratory disease outbreaks affecting several countries simultaneously and a novel strain of Coronavirus (SARS-CoV 2) has been identified as the causative agent. Sequel to the advice of the International Health Regulation Emergency Committee, the Director-General of WHO declared the COVID-19 outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) on 30 January 2020 and characterized it as a pandemic on 11 March 2020. The aim of the study was to describe the current situation of the outbreak in Nigeria and argued the need for effective engagement of community health workers for an appropriate response to COVID-19. We reviewed published articles on COVID-19 and daily epidemiological reports from the website of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) from 27 February 2020 till 3 May 2020 (Epidemiology week 7-17) to describe the outbreak. We also reviewed ongoing responses by the government and other relevant agencies. Our findings revealed possible evidence of ongoing and increasing community transmission of COVID-19 infections, inadequate testing capacity and overwhelming of health resources. Our review also revealed infection of several health workers in the face of existing critical skilled health workforce shortage. With surging of new COVID-19 cases and a huge number of contacts to be traced, we recommended that the government needs to promptly bring community health workers on board, deploy rapid epidemic intelligence and scale up the use of mobile Apps for contact tracing. This will result in an effective and coordinated response to the ongoing outbreak, sustain routine health services especially at the community level, reduce morbidity and mortality, and preserve health indices gains already made in the health system.

Challenges in access and satisfaction with reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health services in Nigeria during the COVID-19 pandemic: A cross-sectional survey

“…In all, 1,241 women participated in the study. Their ages ranged from 17-49 years with median age (IQR) of 31 years (28)(29)(30)(31)(32)(33)(34)(35)(36). Almost all (93.31%) were married and most had secondary education (50.28%), were employed (81.71%) and perceived their health to be good (50.68%) [Table 1].…”

The critical importance of community health workers as first responders to COVID-19 in USA

“…Many countries such as Kenya, Liberia and Rwanda have started leveraging CHWs for COVID-19 infection prevention, case detection and response ( Ajisegiri et al , 2020 ). Identification of cases that exhibit COVID-19 symptoms or non-compliance of preventive measures has been shown to flag and interrupt community transmission at an earlier stage ( Ajisegiri et al , 2020 ). Contact tracing initiatives focus primarily on reducing the risk of disease transmission, and access to support (such as food, medicine and hygiene supplies) so effective quarantine/isolation practices are adhered with.…”

“…clinical) needed for effective contact tracing, contact tracing efforts are only effective to the degree to which affected individuals are willing to pick up the phone and be contact traced. Effective rapid outbreak containment has been linked with mobilization activities that have garnered trust between health workers and the communities that they serve ( Ajisegiri et al , 2020 ). The existing distrust within Black and Latinx communities of the health care system, combined with well-documented access and quality of care problems, render CHWs a more suitable workforce for this component of pandemic response.…”

A mathematical model of Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) containing asymptomatic and symptomatic classes

“…Adegboye et al [6] dealt with early spread of COVID-19 in Nigeria. Ajisegiri et al [9] analyzed the outbreak scenario of COVID-19 in Nigeria. Researchers in different areas have presented excellent research on preventive and curative steps to contain the pandemic and have reported better outcomes.…”