Monitoring the COVID-19 pandemic in sub-Saharan Africa: focusing on health facility admissions and deaths

Harries, Anthony; Martínez, Leonardo; Chakaya, Jeremiah

doi:10.5588/ijtld.20.0176

Cited by 13 publications

(16 citation statements)

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“…Similarly, some studies have corroborated the documentation of some common misconceptions about the virus in this study [18][19][20][21]36]. Relatively, their find-ucational opportunities at all levels [17]; including the health sector [23,27,52]. If caution is not taken; African countries would go into unavoidable recession after COVID-19 pandemic [24].…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 74%

“…Previously it was named as novel coronavirus disease 2019 (2019-nCoV) [25]. After less than four weeks, it spread from Wuhan to other parts of China and to the world at large [26]; a novel coronavirus that took not only the China but the entire world by surprise and has continued spreading widely to other parts of the world [22,27,28]. Since then, thousands of cases and fatalities due to the virus have been reported daily across the world.…”

Section: Aetiology and Epidemiology Of Covid-19 Pandemicmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The rapid increase in the cases and fatalities of the virus is already affecting the critical healthcare services especially in African continent and Nigeria in particular [27]; infecting and killing many people without a possible vaccine or drug for its treatment at the moment [54]. However, older people with chronic cardiovascular-related diseases were more affected in a retrospective study [26].…”

Section: Implications Of Misconceptions About Covid-19 Pandemic In Thmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Implications of Misconceptions about Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Pandemic in Relation to its Daily Increases from Nigerian Perspective

Aminu¹

2020

J Infect Dis Epidemiol

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The outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic in the world especially in African continent and Nigeria in particular has created negative effects on humanity. Continuous holding on to some misconceptions about the reality of the virus among people may create further problems for humankind. However, very few studies particularly in Nigeria have actually considered the implications of these misconceptions about the disease in relation to its daily increases; coupled with the fact that many people still hold on to some of these misconceptions in the country. Therefore, this study examined the implications of some common misconceptions among people about COVID-19 pandemic in relation to its daily increases in Nigeria. This study has documented some of the most common misconceptions about COVID-19 pandemic among few individual persons-both male and female in a neighbourhood area of Ibadan in southwestern Nigeria. These include: "it is a white people disease"; "it is an imported disease"; "it is the disease of the wealthy people"; "incessant heat in Nigerian environment will destroy the disease (i.e. hot weather)"; "poor people cannot contract it"; "maintaining physical distancing practice is unnecessary"; "taking local herbs will destroy it"; "taking hot drinks (local gins) will destroy it"; "wearing of face masks is not necessary"; etc. both in rural and urban areas. Daily increase in the cases and fatalities of the virus in the country has been suggested in this study to be as a result of tenaciously holding on to these belief-systems among people. Virtually, all sectors in the country such as health, economy, transportation, agriculture, education, security, politics, religion, family, sport, entertainment, etc. have been seriously affected and still being threatened by the virus. Consequently, the negative impacts have been enormous on people' jobs/works, businesses, family life and social relations thus creating more harms than benefits. Therefore, positive change in people' health-related behaviours becomes imperative through effective and active public enlightenment and awareness creation with strict compliance to the prescribed preventive measures being put in place by the key stakeholders regarding the virus. This will go a long way in influencing positive health-related behaviours among people, getting rid of some misconceptions about the disease that may trigger larger community transmissions as the efforts to discover new vaccines or drugs for COVID-19 pandemic treatment continue.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 74%

Section: Aetiology and Epidemiology Of Covid-19 Pandemicmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Implications Of Misconceptions About Covid-19 Pandemic In Thmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

The Implications of Misconceptions about Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Pandemic in Relation to its Daily Increases from Nigerian Perspective

Aminu¹

2020

J Infect Dis Epidemiol

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“…When the COVID-19 pandemic had started in China, many African countries had a few laboratory testing capacities and logistic difficulties to track patients in their community [9]. In Ethiopia, TB program is problematic and the emergence of COVID-19 is assumed to worsen the situation [9][10][11]. Here, we looked over the COVID-19 containment measures in Ethiopia in context from reliable sources and put forth recommendations that leverage the health system response to COVID-19 and TB.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Containment of COVID-19 in Ethiopia and implications for tuberculosis care and research

et al. 2020

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Background The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has emerged as a global health and economic security threat with staggering cumulative incidence worldwide. Given the severity of projections, hospitals across the globe are creating additional critical care surge capacity and limiting patient routine access to care for other diseases like tuberculosis (TB). The outbreak fuels panic in sub-Saharan Africa where the healthcare system is fragile in withstanding the disease. Here, we looked over the COVID-19 containment measures in Ethiopia in context from reliable sources and put forth recommendations that leverage the health system response to COVID-19 and TB. Main text Ethiopia shares a major proportion of the global burden of infectious diseases, while the patterns of COVID-19 are still at an earlier stage of the epidemiology curve. The Ethiopian government exerted tremendous efforts to curb the disease. It limited public gatherings, ordered school closures, directed high-risk civil servants to work from home, and closed borders. It suspended flights to 120 countries and restricted mass transports. It declared a five-month national state of emergency and granted a pardon for 20 402 prisoners. It officially postponed parliamentary and presidential elections. It launched the ‘PM Abiy-Jack Ma initiative’, which supports African countries with COVID-19 diagnostics and infection prevention and control commodities. It expanded its COVID-19 testing capacity to 38 countrywide laboratories. Many institutions are made available to provide clinical care and quarantine. However, the outbreak still has the potential for greater loss of life in Ethiopia if the community is unable to shape the regular behavioral and sociocultural norms that would facilitate the spread of the disease. The government needs to keep cautious that irregular migrants would fuel the disease. A robust testing capacity is needed to figure out the actual status of the disease. The pandemic has reduced TB care and research activities significantly and these need due attention. Conclusions Ethiopia took several steps to detect, manage, and control COVID-19. More efforts are needed to increase testing capacity and bring about behavioral changes in the community. The country needs to put in place alternative options to mitigate interruptions of essential healthcare services and scientific researches of significant impact.

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“…Though datasets such as that of GISAID may not reflect the true dynamism of transmission in resourcelimited regions such as Africa, routine evaluation of mutations that occur in these areas is needed to inform the scientific community about how SARS-CoV-2 adapts to regions with endemic tropical co-infections such as HIV, malaria, helminths, and TB [150][151][152]. There is a need to carry out further research focused on the dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 spread in African Americans as these individuals have been shown to have higher incidences of COVID-19 [153,154].…”

Section: Conclusion and Future Perspectivesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Immuno-epidemiology and pathophysiology of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)

et al. 2020

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Occasional zoonotic viral attacks on immunologically naive populations result in massive death tolls that are capable of threatening human survival. Currently, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the infectious agent that causes coronavirus disease (COVID-19), has spread from its epicenter in Wuhan China to all parts of the globe. Real-time mapping of new infections across the globe has revealed that variable transmission patterns and pathogenicity are associated with differences in SARS-CoV-2 lineages, clades, and strains. Thus, we reviewed how changes in the SARS-CoV-2 genome and its structural architecture affect viral replication, immune evasion, and transmission within different human populations. We also looked at which immune dominant regions of SARS-CoV-2 and other coronaviruses are recognized by Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC)/Human Leukocyte Antigens (HLA) genes and how this could impact on subsequent disease pathogenesis. Efforts were also placed on understanding immunological changes that occur when exposed individuals either remain asymptomatic or fail to control the virus and later develop systemic complications. Published autopsy studies that reveal alterations in the lung immune microenvironment, morphological, and pathological changes are also explored within the context of the review. Understanding the true correlates of protection and determining how constant virus evolution impacts on host-pathogen interactions could help identify which populations are at high risk and later inform future vaccine and therapeutic interventions.

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Monitoring the COVID-19 pandemic in sub-Saharan Africa: focusing on health facility admissions and deaths

Cited by 13 publications

References 0 publications

The Implications of Misconceptions about Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Pandemic in Relation to its Daily Increases from Nigerian Perspective

The Implications of Misconceptions about Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Pandemic in Relation to its Daily Increases from Nigerian Perspective

Containment of COVID-19 in Ethiopia and implications for tuberculosis care and research

Immuno-epidemiology and pathophysiology of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)

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