Six months after COVID-19 was detected in Africa, countries have made a lot of progress to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus. Polity reports that according to Dr Matshidiso Moeti, the World Health Organisation's regional director for Africa, many African governments were quick to impose lockdowns and key public health measures that helped to slow down the virus.
"Over time, preventive, diagnostic and treatment measures have been strengthened. All countries can now diagnose COVID-19, with 14 performing over 100 tests per 10,000 population. Production of oxygen, critical for severely ill COVID-19 patients, has also considerably increased, with the number of oxygen plants in the region rising to 119 from 68 at the onset, while the number of oxygen concentrators has more than doubled to over 6,000," she said in the Polity report.
Moeti said curbing COVID-19 in Africa was a marathon, not a sprint. "We are observing multiple local outbreaks, each with their own infection patterns and peaks. It is by bolstering the response at the community level that we will win this race. The COVID-19 response must be integrated into the fabric of every health district."
A recent WHO assessment based on self-reporting by 16 countries in sub-Saharan Africa found that the countries improved their capacity to respond to COVID-19.
The report says the WHO measured countries’ readiness in a range of areas, including co-ordination, surveillance, laboratory capacity, case management, infection prevention and control.
Six months ago, the score was 62% and it is now 78%. While much progress appears to have been made at the national level, at the district level countries were generally lagging. "Not only must we keep up with the evolving trends, we must also anticipate, predict and act faster to head off potentially disastrous outcomes," Moeti said.
[link url="https://www.polity.org.za/article/africa-doing-well-to-curb-spread-of-covid-19-who-2020-08-14"]Full Polity report[/link]