An integrative literature review on the impact of COVID-19 on maternal and child health in Africa

Senkyire, Ephraim Kumi; Ewetan, Olabanji Olukayode; Azuh, Dominic E.; Asiedua, Ernestina; White, Rebecca Hamilton; Dunlea, Margaret; Barger, Mary K.; Ohaja, Magdalena

doi:10.1186/s12884-022-05339-x

Cited by 12 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 65 publications

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“…A similar decrease was reported in Mozambique which reported a birth decrease of 4% during the pandemic period [ 7 ]. Similarly, in a recent review by Senkyire et al, on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on maternal and child health in Africa, it was reported that COVID-19 was associated with reduced facility-based births in Africa [ 8 ]. Conversely, a French study by Quibel et al did not reveal any significant decrease in the birth rates during the two periods [ 9 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The impact of COVID-19 on the birth rate in Nigeria: A report from population-based registries

Oguejiofor¹,

Ebubechukwu²,

Eleje³

et al. 2023

Infect Dis Res

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Background and objectives: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a pandemic that has become a major source of morbidity and mortality worldwide, affecting the physical and mental health of individuals influencing reproduction. Despite the threat, it poses to maternal health in sub-Saharan Africa and Nigeria, there is little or no data on the impact it has on fertility, conception, gestation and birth. To compare the birth rate between pre-COVID and COVID times using selected months of the year. Materials and methods: This was a secondary analysis of cross-sectional analytical study data from the birth registries of three tertiary hospitals, comparing two years [2019 (Pre-COVID)] versus [2020 (COVID era)] using three months of the year (October to December). The data relied upon was obtained from birth registries in three busy maternity clinics all within tertiary hospitals in South-East Nigeria and we aimed at discussing the potential impacts of COVID-19 on fertility in Nigeria. The secondary outcome measures were; mode of delivery, booking status of the participants, maternal age and occupation. Results: There was a significant decrease in tertiary-hospital based birth rate by 92 births ( P = 0.0009; 95% CI: −16.0519 to −4.1481) among mothers in all the three hospitals in 2020 during the COVID period (post lockdown months) of October to December. There was a significant difference in the mode of delivery for mothers ( P = 0.0096) with a 95% confidence interval of 1.0664 to 1.5916, as more gave birth through vaginal delivery during the 2020 COVID-19 period than pre-COVID-19. Conclusion: Tertiary-hospital based birth rates were reduced during the pandemic. Our multi-centre study extrapolated on possible factors that may have played a role in this decline in their birth rate, which includes but is not limited to; decreased access to hospital care due to the total lockdowns/curfews and worsening inflation and economic recession in the country.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The impact of COVID-19 on the birth rate in Nigeria: A report from population-based registries

Oguejiofor¹,

Ebubechukwu²,

Eleje³

et al. 2023

Infect Dis Res

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“…In such context, maternal and child health (MCH) services would be more compromised because of the risk of transmission involved in providing these services ( 9 ). Firstly, most of them being provided as routine services (antenatal visits, vaccination), they are characterized by a plethora of patients in the care units; the risk of such massive gathering could frighten users and even some providers from attending these units.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mixed influence of COVID-19 on primary maternal and child health services in sub-Saharan Africa: a scoping review

Camara,

El Ayadi,

Thea

et al. 2024

Front. Public Health

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IntroductionThe COVID-19 pandemic profoundly affected the provision of and demand for routine health services in the world. The objective of this scoping review was to synthesize the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on primary maternal and child health (MCH) services in sub-Saharan Africa.MethodsThe studies searched original studies reporting on the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on primary MCH services. Four scientific databases (Pubmed, AJOL, CAIRN, CINAHL) and one gray literature database (Google Scholar) were used for this search. We also searched through the snowball citation approach and study reference lists.ResultsThe influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on primary MCH services has been mixed in sub-Saharan Africa. Attendance at some health centers declined for antenatal care, deliveries, immunization, and pneumonia cases. Other health centers did not experience a significant influence of the pandemic on some of these services. In fact, antenatal care increased in a number of health centers. MCH service indicators which declined during COVID-19 were linked on the demand side to regulatory measures against COVID-19, the perceived unavailability of resources for routine services, the perceived negative attitude of staff in these facilities, the perceived transmission risk in primary health care facilities and the perceived anticipated stigma. On the supply side, factors included the lack of equipment in primary facilities, the lack of guidelines for providing care in the pandemic context, the regulatory measures against COVID-19 taken in these facilities, and the lack of motivation of providers working in these facilities.ConclusionThis study recommends prioritizing the improvement of infection prevention measures in primary health care facilities for resilience of MCH indicators to epidemic crises. Improvement efforts should be tailored to the disparities in preventive measures between health centers. The identification of best practices from more resilient health centers could better guide these efforts.

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“…Since the official declaration of Coronavirus disease as a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) on 11 March 2020 [1], several studies agree that the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infection, its contagiousness and COVID-19 death related are largely underestimated, thus facilitating its dissemination within communities [2][3][4][5][6][7][8]. In Senegal, the first case was registered on 2 March 2020 [9].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The conjunction of these different phenomena, particularly during the critical windows of the second and third waves of COVID-19 in Senegal [16], that could put pregnant women more in a risky situation. The COVID-19 pandemic has so far raised questions about the impact of SARS-CoV-2 infection in pregnant women, particularly on the outcome of pregnancy, the health of the child-mother couple during and after pregnancy [8,[22][23][24][25][26][27]. Among these concerns, the high risk of mortality in pregnant women infected with SARS-CoV-2 compared with age-matched nonpregnant individuals [3,8,[23][24][25].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

High Exposure to SARS-CoV-2 among Pregnant Women after the First and Second Waves of COVID-19 in Senegal

Diouara,

Thiam,

Coundoul

et al. 2023

Preprint

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This study aims to determine the seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 in pregnant women attending antenatal consultations (ANC) in Senegal. A non-redundant consecutive recruitment of participants was carried out between, March and July 2021 during the Delta wave of COVID-19. The plasma samples biobanked at -80°C were subjected to an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for the qualitative detection of IgG and IgM antibodies of SARS-CoV-2 using the WANTAI SARS-CoV-2 Ab ELISA (Wantai Biological Pharmacy Enterprise, Beijing). To assess factors associated with seropositivity, bivariate analysis was per-formed with JMP® Pro Version 15.0.0 software (SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC, 1989–2021). For frequencies below 5%, chi2 or Fischer tests were performed. In all cases, significant statistical threshold was set at p-values considered to be less than 0.05. A total of 1,227 pregnant women were recruited in five health facil-ities, including two in Dakar (n=166) and one in each of the following regional capitals: Saint-Louis (n=400), Ziguinchor (n=264) and Kédougou (n=397). The median age among was 25 years [18 - 50]. The overall sero-prevalence observed was 64.9% (797/1227), with higher exposure rates in Dakar with 71.6% (119/166) and Ziguinchor with 68.1% (180/264). Kédougou and Saint-Louis reported 62.9% (250/397) and 62% (248/400), respectively. According to age group, the seroprevalence was 62.6% (331/528), 66.6% (238/357), 63.5% (148/223) and 67.2% (80/119) respectively for [18-23], [24-29], [30-35] and ≥36 years old. This variability in the seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 according to the localities was not statistically significant (p=0.7024). We found no association between factors such as recruitment period, age, level of education, marital and pro-fessional status.

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An integrative literature review on the impact of COVID-19 on maternal and child health in Africa

Cited by 12 publications

References 65 publications

The impact of COVID-19 on the birth rate in Nigeria: A report from population-based registries

The impact of COVID-19 on the birth rate in Nigeria: A report from population-based registries

Mixed influence of COVID-19 on primary maternal and child health services in sub-Saharan Africa: a scoping review

High Exposure to SARS-CoV-2 among Pregnant Women after the First and Second Waves of COVID-19 in Senegal

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