Infectious disease outbreaks in the African region: overview of events reported to the World Health Organization in 2018

Mboussou, Franck; Ndumbi, Patricia; Ngom, Roland; Kassamali, Z.; Ogundiran, Opeayo; Beek, Janko van; Williams, George S.B.; Okot, Charles; Hamblion, Esther; Impouma, Benido

doi:10.1017/s0950268819001912

Cited by 49 publications

(42 citation statements)

References 24 publications

(29 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…In recent years, Africa has experienced infectious disease outbreaks. In 2018, a total of 96 new infectious disease outbreaks were reported across 36 of the 47 member states of the World Health Organization Africa region 40 . The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) had a prolonged Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreak that hit West Africa between 2013 and 2016, aggravated by weaknesses in the health system.…”

Section: Africa's Health Systems Capacity To Contain the Pandemicmentioning

confidence: 99%

COVID‐19: A perspective on Africa's capacity and response

Dzinamarira

Dzobo

Chitungo

2020

Journal of Medical Virology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Global powerhouses with tried and tested health systems have struggled to contain the COVID-19 pandemic. One is left to wonder what will be left of Africa, the second most populous continent after Asia, which is torn by civil wars, hunger, and diseases like AIDS and TB and, in recent years, the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD). The majority of countries' health systems, already dependent on donor aid, are ill-equipped and under-resourced to deal with the raging pandemic. There is a lack of isolation and intensive care infrastructure, ventilators, and financial resources to bankroll the fight against COVID-19 pandemic. However, there is some cause for optimism, for example, in West Africa where infrastructure like diagnostic testing facilities, intensive care units, surveillance, and systems for reporting emergencies used during the EVD outbreak of 2013-2016 can be leveraged to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. Further, a number of African countries have responded swiftly by activating the necessary political and financial tools to combat the pandemic. Technical support from continental bodies like the Africa Centers for Disease Control and global development partners has improved the capacity of the continent to handle the pandemic. In this article, the authors unpack, review, and share a perspective on Africa's capacity to contain and control the COVID-19 pandemic and review the current response.

show abstract

Section: Africa's Health Systems Capacity To Contain the Pandemicmentioning

confidence: 99%

COVID‐19: A perspective on Africa's capacity and response

Dzinamarira

Dzobo

Chitungo

2020

Journal of Medical Virology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Ninety-six events were documented (i.e. hit the threshold and followed-up on) in 2018 alone [ 10 ]. As a result, countries remain vulnerable, even with the significant investments made in enhancing emergency preparedness and response – and in fact, some shock events will overwhelm any system, such as COVID-19.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Building health system resilience in the context of primary health care revitalization for attainment of UHC: proceedings from the Fifth Health Sector Directors’ Policy and Planning Meeting for the WHO African Region

et al. 2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background The recent 2018 Declaration of Astana recognized primary health care (PHC) as a means to achieve universal health coverage (UHC) and the health-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Following this declaration, country progress on operationalization of the PHC agenda and attainment of UHC has been stalled by the new challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic has also disrupted the continuity of essential health service provision and tested the resilience of the region’s health systems. Methods In accordance with this, the WHO Regional Office for Africa convened the Fifth Health Sector Directors’ Planning and Policy Meeting across the 47 Member States of the Region. The two-day forum focused on building health system resilience to facilitate service continuity during health threats, PHC revitalization, and health systems strengthening towards UHC. Results The Regional Forum provided evidence on building resilient health systems in the WHO African Region and engaged participants in meaningful and critical discussion. It is from these discussions that four key themes emerged: (1) working multisectorally/intersectorally, (2) moving from fragmentation to integration, (3) ensuring implementation and knowledge exchange, and (4) rethinking resilience and embracing antifragility. These discussions and associated groupings by thematic areas lend themselves to recommendations for the WHO. Conclusions This paper details the proceedings and key findings on building resilient health systems, the four themes that emerged from participant deliberation, and the recommendations that have emerged from the meeting. Deliberations from the Regional Forum are critical, as they have the potential to directly inform policy and program design, given that the meeting convenes health sector technocrats, who are at the helm of policy design, action, and implementation.

show abstract

“…With variations between countries, lower respiratory infections, diarrheal diseases, malaria, HIV/AIDS, meningitis and tuberculosis are among the principal causes of death (El Bcheraoui et al 2020 ; United Nations 2020a ). Moreover, sub-Saharan African zones have become the epicenter of major infectious disease outbreaks during the last decade (Cholera, Ebola, Measles, Yellow Fever) (Fenollar and Mediannikov 2018 ; Mboussou et al 2019 ), which are considerable burden on the economy and public health (Jones et al 2008 ).…”

Section: The African Covid-19 Scenariomentioning

confidence: 99%

Coping with COVID-19 in Sub-Saharan Africa: What Might the Future Hold?

Mennechet

Dzomo

2020

Virol. Sin.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

On December 31st, 2019 an unexplained case of pneumonia was reported in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China (Zhou et al. 2020). On January 9th, 2020, Chinese authorities and the World Health Organization (WHO) officially announced the discovery of a new type of coronavirus called SARS-CoV-2 that causes the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) (Shereen et al. 2020; WHO 2020j; Zhou et al. 2020). A few months later, the virus is sweeping the world with almost 18 million recorded global cases and 709,000 deaths as of August 7th 2020 (WHO 2020a). After China, Europe and United States, South America is currently the new epicenter of the pandemic, but the situation is worsening in India, and the pandemic is moving fast. Nevertheless, confronted by the disastrous socioeconomic consequences of the epidemic, a number of countries have already started a progressive end to the lockdown. Africa confirmed its first case of COVID-19 in Egypt on February 14th. On February 27th, Nigeria reported the first official case of SARS-CoV-2 in the sub-Saharan area, and on March 18th Burkina Faso the first death. On August 7th 2020 this number has risen to more than 1,000,000 cases and caused about 22,000 deaths in Africa according to the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) (Africa CDC 2020a). Southern and Northern Africa have currently the highest number of official cases and deaths, but Western Africa is the most impacted by the death toll in sub-Saharan zone, followed by Eastern and Central Africa. However, these numbers are probably undervalued and could represent only the ''tip of the iceberg''. According to the WHO, the highest mortality rates for COVID-19 were observed in the Republic of Chad (8.5%), Niger (6.2%), Algeria (5.7%), Angola (5.4%), Burkina Faso (5.3%), Mali (5.1%) and Liberia (4.5%). On July 8th 2020, South Africa, Nigeria, Algeria and Cameroon accounted for 75% of the total official deaths reported in Africa.

show abstract

Infectious disease outbreaks in the African region: overview of events reported to the World Health Organization in 2018

Cited by 49 publications

References 24 publications

COVID‐19: A perspective on Africa's capacity and response

COVID‐19: A perspective on Africa's capacity and response

Building health system resilience in the context of primary health care revitalization for attainment of UHC: proceedings from the Fifth Health Sector Directors’ Policy and Planning Meeting for the WHO African Region

Coping with COVID-19 in Sub-Saharan Africa: What Might the Future Hold?

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About