The COVID-19 pandemic continues to be a major public health threat globally and low-and middle-income countries (LMICs) are not an exception. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is far-reaching on many areas including but not limited to global health security, economic and healthcare delivery with a potential impact on access to healthcare in LMICs. We evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on access to healthcare in LMICs, as well as plausible strategies that can be put in place to ensure that the delivery of healthcare is not halted. In order to mitigate the devastating effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the already weak health systems in LMICs, it is much necessary to reinforce and scale up interventions and proactive measures that will ensure that access to healthcare is not disrupted even in course of the pandemic.

Infectious disease outbreaks have long posed a public health threat, especially in Africa, where the incidence of infectious outbreaks has risen exponentially. Although, Africa has witnessed several outbreaks of emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases such as Ebola virus disease and other epidemic-prone diseases, little attention has been given towards strengthening the health surveillance systems. However, the recent COVID-19 pandemic has uncovered the region's already due to inefficient and ineffective health surveillance systems. However, the impact posed by the COVID-19 pandemic on health systems in the region has been catastrophic, it has also stressed the importance of rethinking and focusing on lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic. In this paper, we examine how Africa's poor disease surveillance systems affected the responses and strategies aimed at COVID-19 containment. To ensure early disease outbreak identification and prompt public health interventions in Africa, the current disease surveillance and response mechanisms must be strengthened.

Every year, about 4 million cases and 143,000 deaths due to cholera are recorded globally, of which 54% were from Africa, reported in 2016. The outbreak and spread of cholera have risen exponentially particularly in Africa. Coupled with the recent emergence of the Coronavirus Pandemic (COVID-19) in Africa, the local health systems are facing a double burden of these infectious diseases due to their cumulative impact. In this paper, we evaluate the dual impact of cholera and COVID-19 in Africa and suggest plausible interventions that can be put in place to cushion its impact.

The world has witnessed rapid advancement and changes since the COVID-19 pandemic emerged in Wuhan, China. The significant changes experienced during these times remain unprecedented. The African continent has initiated significant responses to curb the spread of the pandemic. However, there is an increasing concern that rural Africa is facing serious challenges in their responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. This is due to the uncertainty if the populations are detached from or in synch with information on COVID-19. The findings reported here suggest that rural Africa is burdened with misinformation and infodemic regarding COVID-19 due to widespread misconceptions and anecdotal reports. It is, therefore, necessary to engage with community leaders to provide awareness campaigns in rural communities to ensure access to reliable information issued by local and international health authorities. It is pertinent to set up avenues that improve health literacy in communities in rural Africa as it is a major determinant of information assimilation.

The effort by countries and relevant stakeholders to improving the quality of pharmacy education globally is being countered by the outbreak of infectious diseases. In order to curtail the spread of the coronavirus, unprecedented measures such as total/partial lockdowns and ban on public gatherings have been put in place by several governments. These measures implemented have put a halt on academic activities and schooling and have invariably affected the delivery of pharmacy education globally and Africa is no exception. In order to ensure the continuity of pharmacy education, the e-learning strategy has been utilized by several countries in the world today and Africa should not be left out. There is an urgent need for Africa to meet up with the present education demands by adopting the e-learning strategy but this is not without challenges. We examine the impact of these measures on pharmacy education as well as the challenges affecting the uptake and applicability of the e-learning strategy in pharmacy education in Africa. It is therefore essential for the government and relevant stakeholders in the pharmacy education sector to address the numerous challenges that may hinder its uptake in Africa.