Fixing data gaps for population health in Africa: an urgent need

No abstract available

Who will pay for the COVID-19 vaccines for Africa?

No abstract available

Dam if you do, dam if you don't: politics and floods in the shadow of COVID-19 in Sudan

No abstract available

COVID-19 highlights the need for inclusive responses to public health emergencies in Africa

No abstract available

Community distribution of oxygen: a unique COVID-19 intervention

The rapid spread of COVID-19 around the world has exposed some long-standing deficiencies in health systems, particularly in environments with low financial and medical resources. Most patients ill with COVID-19 require oxygen and supportive therapy for survival as there remains no conclusively established curative therapy. Following a number of critical research work and drawing from a millennia-long evolution of medical practice, respiratory support has been identified as a paramount intervention to ensure lives are saved when supportive care is required, and oxygen is an essential commodity to achieve this. This letter focuses on the numerous means for oxygen delivery to health facilities and in turn the end users and expands on the importance of innovation to improve oxygen supply. We describe a community distribution system with a telemedicine structure that can be leveraged for oxygen delivery

Monkeypox virus among seafarers is not to be neglected

No abstract available

Decisive or impulsive? Re-examining Africa’s lockdown response to COVID-19

Due to the high transmission rate and mortality index of the current coronavirus pandemic, many settings in Africa instituted lockdowns to reduce its rate of spread and avert exponential growth rate. At the early stage, this measure seemed to heighten awareness of the virus and subsequently minimized exponential growth of cases. However, these lockdowns have had great consequences on the weak health systems and frail economy in place in many African countries. In this paper, we examine the impact of lockdown measures in these countries and provides key recommendations in dealing with present and future pandemics

COVID-19 and its impacts: the situation in Niger republic

COVID-19 being a public health emergency of international concern has emerged in most African countries including Niger. Niger, a landlocked country, is tasked with controlling the pandemic. However, of the big challenges the country faced is the fragility of healthcare system which posed limitations to the fight against the virus. The virus overwhelmed the fragile healthcare system which led to inaccessibility of quality healthcare to the citizens coupled with issues of flooding and economic recession that happened during the pandemic. The healthcare sectored has further been crippled by exposure and infection of the already insufficient healthcare workers. In addition to this, there was the burden of NTDs and other communicable and non-communicable diseases that subverted the country in the depths of difficulties. As per the predictions of World Bank, the poverty curve is likely to escalate due to the outrageous impacts of COVID-19. Adding on to this, the occurrence of natural disasters such as flooding has further stretched the country. It's no coincidence that the country would confront plethora of challenges amidst the second wave. Therefore, timely decision and necessary interventions are needed to strengthen the country's fight against the pandemic. However, this is only feasible when Nigerien government, international allies and other wealthy nations work closely to ensure that the challenges faced by the healthcare system are tackled

Drug supply situation in Rwanda during COVID-19: issues, efforts and challenges

COVID-19 is a threat to health systems around the world and Rwanda is not an exception. The impact of the pandemic is far-reaching and access to health commodities is not spared. Proper drug supply is critical for a robust healthcare system. It determines the extent at which the population are likely to have access to essential medicines and treatments. In Rwanda, the pharmaceutical sector heavily relies on imports. With the emergence of COVID-19 pandemic, the drug supply system was interrupted leaving many stores from small local pharmacies to the big medical stores running out of stock. The reasons were limited importation of goods from abroad, and the panic buying practice among the customers and some institutions when responding to the pandemic. Drug and medicines accessibility, availability and affordability should be the core of any drug management policy. It is with no doubt that, Rwanda has made a tremendous work to mitigate the effect of COVID-19 on the country’s drug supply; however, efforts are still needed to invest in local pharmaceutical production as a way to minimize import expenses in the country. Good policy on drug importation, production and distribution should be enforced to avoid any drug shortage that may be encountered in the Rwandan drug market

Neglecting antibiotic stewardship in prisons: a concern for antimicrobial resistance response

No abstract available