COVID-19 in Africa: care and protection for frontline healthcare workers.,Globalization and Health

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COVID-19 in Africa: care and protection for frontline healthcare workers.
Globalization and Health ( IF 10.8 ) Pub Date : 2020-05-15 , DOI: 10.1186/s12992-020-00574-3
Matthew F Chersich ₁ , Glenda Gray ₂ , Lee Fairlie ₁ , Quentin Eichbaum _{3,

4} , Susannah Mayhew ₅ , Brian Allwood ₆ , Rene English ₇ , Fiona Scorgie ₁ , Stanley Luchters _{8,

9,

10,

11} , Greg Simpson ₁₂ , Marjan Mosalman Haghighi ₁₃ , Minh Duc Pham _{10,

14} , Helen Rees ₁

Affiliation

Wits Reproductive Health and HIV Institute, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
South African Medical Research Council, Cape Town, South Africa.
Department of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA.
Division of Medical Education and Administration, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, TN, USA.
Department of Global Health and Development, Faculty of Public Health and Policy, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, WC1H 9SH, UK.
Division of Pulmonology, Department of Medicine, Stellenbosch University and Tygerberg Hospital, Cape Town, South Africa.
Division of Health Systems and Public Health, Department of Global Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa.
Department of Population Health, Aga Khan University, Nairobi, Kenya.
Department of Public Health and Primary Care, International Centre for Reproductive Health (ICRH), Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia.
Burnet Institute, Melbourne, Australia.
Wildlife Forensic Academy, Buffelsfontein Nature Reserve, Cape Town, South Africa.
The University of Sydney, Faculty of Medicine and Health, Sydney, South Africa.
Disease Elimination, Burnet Institute, Melbourne, Australia.

Medical staff caring for COVID-19 patients face mental stress, physical exhaustion, separation from families, stigma, and the pain of losing patients and colleagues. Many of them have acquired SARS-CoV-2 and some have died. In Africa, where the pandemic is escalating, there are major gaps in response capacity, especially in human resources and protective equipment. We examine these challenges and propose interventions to protect healthcare workers on the continent, drawing on articles identified on Medline (Pubmed) in a search on 24 March 2020. Global jostling means that supplies of personal protective equipment are limited in Africa. Even low-cost interventions such as facemasks for patients with a cough and water supplies for handwashing may be challenging, as is 'physical distancing' in overcrowded primary health care clinics. Without adequate protection, COVID-19 mortality may be high among healthcare workers and their family in Africa given limited critical care beds and difficulties in transporting ill healthcare workers from rural to urban care centres. Much can be done to protect healthcare workers, however. The continent has learnt invaluable lessons from Ebola and HIV control. HIV counselors and community healthcare workers are key resources, and could promote social distancing and related interventions, dispel myths, support healthcare workers, perform symptom screening and trace contacts. Staff motivation and retention may be enhanced through carefully managed risk 'allowances' or compensation. International support with personnel and protective equipment, especially from China, could turn the pandemic's trajectory in Africa around. Telemedicine holds promise as it rationalises human resources and reduces patient contact and thus infection risks. Importantly, healthcare workers, using their authoritative voice, can promote effective COVID-19 policies and prioritization of their safety. Prioritizing healthcare workers for SARS-CoV-2 testing, hospital beds and targeted research, as well as ensuring that public figures and the population acknowledge the commitment of healthcare workers may help to maintain morale. Clearly there are multiple ways that international support and national commitment could help safeguard healthcare workers in Africa, essential for limiting the pandemic's potentially devastating heath, socio-economic and security impacts on the continent.

更新日期：2020-05-15

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