COVID-19 and its implications for obstetrics and gynecology practice in Africa

Oluwasola, Timothy A.O.; Bello, Oluwasomidoyin Olukemi

doi:10.11604/pamj.2021.38.15.25520

Cited by 4 publications

(11 citation statements)

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“…Pregnant women not only had trouble accessing services because of transportation restriction and high cost of transport but also because maternal health services were curtailed due to lack of healthcare workers, either due to illness, lack of PPE, or shifting personnel to care for COVID-infected patients [47]. There is evidence that delayed or curtailed care resulted in increased maternal morbidity and mortality as well as increased neonatal morality.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Additionally, the pandemic revealed already known weaknesses in the health systems in Africa, such as workforce shortages, lack of equipment and resources -particularly PPE, and lack of suitable training of personnel. The needed shift of resources to caring for very ill COVID patients meant fewer resources for pregnant and labouring women [34,47]. Recommendations to deal with epidemic related issues in the future include a need to develop plans ahead of time, methods to limit exposure of health personnel through adequate training in the use of PPE and adequate availability of PPE but also conserving PPE to be used only when needed [47].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The needed shift of resources to caring for very ill COVID patients meant fewer resources for pregnant and labouring women [34,47]. Recommendations to deal with epidemic related issues in the future include a need to develop plans ahead of time, methods to limit exposure of health personnel through adequate training in the use of PPE and adequate availability of PPE but also conserving PPE to be used only when needed [47]. Additionally, there needs to be a focus on maintaining health personnel's well-being through the provision of resources, such as childcare and meal preparation, as well as psychological support to manage the stress of working during such as crisis [47].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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An Integrative Literature Review on the Impact of COVID-19 on Maternal Health in Africa

Senkyire

Ohaja

Ewetan

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Africa has the highest rates of maternal deaths globally which have been linked to poorly functioning health care systems. The aim of this paper is to review the published literature on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on maternal health in Africa. The integrative review process delineated by Whittemore and Knafl (2005) was used to meet the study aims. The literature search of Ovid Medline, CINAHL, PubMed, WHO, Google and Google scholar, Africa journals online, MIDIRS was limited to publications between March 2020 and May 2022. All the studies went through the PRISMA stages, and 179 full text papers screened for eligibility, 36 papers met inclusion criteria. Of the studies, 6 were qualitative, 25 quantitative studies, and 5 mixed methods. Thematic analysis according to the methods of Braun and Clark (2006) were used to synthesize the data. From the search the four themes that emerged include: effects of lockdown measures, COVID concerns and psychological stress, reduced attendance at antenatal care and childhood vaccination, reduced facility-based births and increase maternal mortality. A review of the literature revealed the following policy issues: The need for government to develop robust response mechanism to public health emergencies that negatively affect maternal health issues and devise health policies to mitigate negative effects of lockdown. In times of pandemic there is need to maintain special access for both antenatal care and child delivery services and limit a shift to use of untrained birth attendants to reduce maternal and neonatal deaths. These could be achieved by soliciting investments from various sectors to provide high-quality care that ensures sustainability to all layers of the population.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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An Integrative Literature Review on the Impact of COVID-19 on Maternal Health in Africa

Senkyire

Ohaja

Ewetan

et al. 2022

Preprint

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“…Fear of COVID-19 has also been reported as predictors of antenatal care service utilization (33). Oluwasola and Bello's review also highlights the potential negative implications of COVID-19 for obstetric and gynecologic practice in Africa (25).…”

Section: Disruption In Service Provision and Utilizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Oluwasola and colleagues reported that reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health service provision and utilization have decreased substantially, resulting in delayed necessary care. The authors explain that in a pandemic, pregnant women are faced with the uncertainty to attend a clinic (25). Murewanhema and colleagues also provided a conceptualization of delay across the cascade of maternity care from antenatal care to postnatal care (26).…”

Section: Delayed Carementioning

confidence: 99%

The direct and indirect impact of COVID-19 pandemic on maternal and child health services in Africa: a scoping review

Adu

Stallwood

Adebola

et al. 2021

Preprint

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IntroductionThe novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) continues to disrupt the availability and utilization of routine and emergency health care services, with differing impacts in jurisdictions across the world. In this scoping review, we set out to synthesize documentation of the direct and indirect effect of the pandemic, and national responses to it, on maternal and child health (MNCH) in Africa.MethodsA scoping review was conducted to provide an overview of the most significant impacts identified up to February 2021. Our search included peer reviewed literature, working papers and news articles with the intent to capture evolving and novel updates on the topic. Narrative descriptions were written about thematic areas for which the authors extracted the most evidence.ResultsOne hundred and fifty-five articles were identified through our literature search and 17 were deemed appropriate for analysis. We identified three overarching themes: delayed care, disruption in service provision and utilization and mitigation strategies or recommendation.DiscussionAvailable literature suggests widespread service cutbacks amid a mosaic of mitigation strategies. Our results show that minor consideration was given to preserving health service access for mothers and children, especially in historically underserved areas. Lack of emergency preparedness and infrastructural constraints prevented useful approaches such as telemedicine from being meaningfully utilized.ConclusionsOur scoping review shows that limited research has been published on this topic. Reviewed literature illuminates the continuing need and prioritization for maternity services, immunization, and reproductive health services, which have not been prioritized during the pandemic, yet are necessary to shield the continent’s most vulnerable population segments from the shocks of current and future global health emergencies.

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

Senkyire

Ewetan

Azuh

et al. 2023

BMC Pregnancy Childbirth

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Africa has the highest rates of maternal deaths globally which have been linked to poorly functioning health care systems. The pandemic revealed already known weaknesses in the health systems in Africa, such as workforce shortages, lack of equipment and resources. The aim of this paper is to review the published literature on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on maternal and child health in Africa. The integrative review process delineated by Whittemore and Knafl (2005) was used to meet the study aims. The literature search of Ovid Medline, CINAHL, PubMed, WHO, Google and Google scholar, Africa journals online, MIDIRS was limited to publications between March 2020 and May 2022. All the studies went through the PRISMA stages, and 179 full text papers screened for eligibility, 36 papers met inclusion criteria. Of the studies, 6 were qualitative, 25 quantitative studies, and 5 mixed methods. Thematic analysis according to the methods of Braun and Clark (2006) were used to synthesize the data. From the search the six themes that emerged include: effects of lockdown measures, COVID concerns and psychological stress, reduced attendance at antenatal care, childhood vaccination, reduced facility-based births, and increase maternal and child mortality. A review of the literature revealed the following policy issues: The need for government to develop robust response mechanism to public health emergencies that negatively affect maternal and child health issues and devise health policies to mitigate negative effects of lockdown. In times of pandemic there is need to maintain special access for both antenatal care and child delivery services and limit a shift to use of untrained birth attendants to reduce maternal and neonatal deaths. These could be achieved by soliciting investments from various sectors to provide high-quality care that ensures sustainability to all layers of the population.

show abstract

COVID-19 and its implications for obstetrics and gynecology practice in Africa

Cited by 4 publications

References 0 publications

An Integrative Literature Review on the Impact of COVID-19 on Maternal Health in Africa

An Integrative Literature Review on the Impact of COVID-19 on Maternal Health in Africa

The direct and indirect impact of COVID-19 pandemic on maternal and child health services in Africa: a scoping review

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

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