COVID-19 threatens health systems in sub-Saharan Africa: the eye of the crocodile

Paintsil, Elijah

doi:10.1172/jci138493

Cited by 120 publications

(116 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…Despite the relatively low cases counts and death rates in most African countries, COVID-19 poses an unprecedented public health risk on the continent. This is, among other factors [3][4][5], because of the high burden of other endemic diseases. Globally, the regions with the largest share of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) are Eastern and Southern Africa, with 20.6 million (18.2-23.2 million), and Western and Central Africa, with 5.0 million (4.0-6.3 million) [10].…”

Section: Analysis and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To date, most analyses have explored the potential effects of the pandemic on the capability of health systems across the continent to deliver essential services, focusing on the response to COVID-19 [3][4][5]. However, the tremendous risk of COVID-19 on the continent goes beyond shortages of resources and infrastructure needed to directly manage the pandemic.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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What does the COVID-19 pandemic mean for HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria control?

2020

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Section: Analysis and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

What does the COVID-19 pandemic mean for HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria control?

2020

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“…The threat of COVID-19 to health systems in Africa can be compared with a metaphor which says "the eye of the crocodile"; which means in the lake, only the eyes of the crocodile is visible on the surface while the rest of the body is immersed in water. In this viewpoint, the eyes represent the public health preparedness while the body of the crocodile represents Africa's fragile health systems (Paintsil, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The knowledge and practice towards COVID-19 pandemic prevention among residents of Ethiopia: An Online Cross-Sectional Study

Bekele

Tolossa

Tsegaye

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Background:The Novel coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) is now the international concerns and a pandemic, since the World Health Organization declared as the outbreaks. The objective of this study to assess the prevention knowledge and practices towards the COVID-19 among the residents of Ethiopia. Methods:An online cross-sectional study was conducted among the sample of Ethiopian residents via social platforms of the author's network with the popular media such as Facebook, in Ethiopia from the April 15-22, 2020 and successfully recruited 341 responses. The snowball sampling was employed to recruit the participants. The data were analyzed using STATA version 14. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize the level of knowledge and practices. Results:The majority of the respondents (80.35%) were male. The overall prevention knowledge of the participants towards the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) was high. About 91.2% of the participant was heard about the novel coronavirus disease and Social Medias' were the main source of the information. About 90% of the participants had a good prevention knowledge of maintaining social distance and frequent hand washing. The practices of the participants towards the COVID-19 prevention were very low. Out of 341 participants, only 61% and 84% of the participants were practicing social distance and frequent hand washing, respectively. Conclusions:Majority of the participants had knew the ways of protecting themselves from the novel coronavirus. But, there was deficiencies of changing these prevention knowledge to practice. This indicates that there was gap between knowledge and implementation of prevention strategies in the community. The concerned body should focus on providing education for the community regarding the implementation of the prevention knowledge to practice.

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“…In central and sub-Saharan Africa, disease epidemics have been easily spread and sustained, primarily due to socioeconomic, regulatory, and demographic factors [5]. Weak and poorly resourced health-care systems in African countries have led to concerns about the possible devastating effects that a rapidly spreading Coronavirus could have in these countries [6][7][8]. At the time of writing, the World Health Organization has reported 83,913 cases of COVID-19 and 2,287 deaths in Africa [9].…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on gastrointestinal endoscopy in Africa

et al. 2020

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Background and study aims As with all other fields of medical practice, gastrointestinal endoscopy has been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, data on the impact of the pandemic in Africa, especially sub-Saharan Africa are lacking. Methods A web-based survey was conducted by the International Working Group of the European Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy and the World Endoscopy Organization to determine the impact and effects the COVID-19 pandemic has had on endoscopists in African countries. Results Thirty-one gastroenterologists from 14 countries in north, central, and sub-Saharan Africa responded to the survey. The majority of respondents reduced their endoscopy volume considerably. Personal protective equipment including FFP-2 masks were available in almost all participating centers. Pre-endoscopy screening was performed as well. Conclusion The COVID-19 pandemic has had a substantial impact on gastrointestinal endoscopy in most African countries; however, the impact may not have been as devastating as expected.

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COVID-19 threatens health systems in sub-Saharan Africa: the eye of the crocodile

Cited by 120 publications

References 20 publications

What does the COVID-19 pandemic mean for HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria control?

What does the COVID-19 pandemic mean for HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria control?

The knowledge and practice towards COVID-19 pandemic prevention among residents of Ethiopia: An Online Cross-Sectional Study

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on gastrointestinal endoscopy in Africa

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