Importance of Community-Level Interventions During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Lessons from Sub-Saharan Africa

Community-level strategies are important in ensuring adequate control of disease outbreaks especially in sub-Saharan African countries. Learning from public health responses to previous infectious disease outbreaks is important in shaping these responses to COVID-19. This study aims to highlight and...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene Vol. 105; no. 4; pp. 879 - 883
Main Authors: Owoyemi, Ayomide, Okolie, Elvis Anyaehiechukwu, Omitiran, Kasarachi, Amaechi, Uchenna Anderson, Sodipo, Babasola Olufemi, Ajumobi, Olufemi, Nnaji, Chukwudi Ernest, Okedo-Alex, Ijeoma Nkem
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: United States Institute of Tropical Medicine 01-10-2021
The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
Subjects:
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Community-level strategies are important in ensuring adequate control of disease outbreaks especially in sub-Saharan African countries. Learning from public health responses to previous infectious disease outbreaks is important in shaping these responses to COVID-19. This study aims to highlight and summarize the evidence from community-level interventions during infectious disease outbreaks in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). We conducted a scoping review of published literature on community-level interventions and strategies adopted in different infectious disease outbreaks in SSA. To obtain relevant studies, we searched EMBASE, CINAHL, MEDLINE, and Google Scholar in August 2020. Our search was based on the combination of keywords such as coronavirus, flu, Ebola, community, rural, strategies, impact, effectiveness, feasibility, Africa, developing countries, and SSA. Studies that met the inclusion criteria were selected and synthesized under the following distinct themes: health education, sensitization, and communications; surveillance; and service delivery. Our review highlights community-based strategies that have been tried and tested with varying outcomes for different outbreaks in different sub-Saharan African communities, we believe they will inform the selection of strategies to adopt in managing the COVID-19 pandemic at the community level. The important aspects of these strategies were highlighted, requirements for successful implementation and the possible challenges that might be encountered were also discussed. Achieving control of the COVID-19 pandemic in sub-Saharan African communities, will require concerted community-based and community-led strategies, which in turn rely on the availability of necessary socioeconomic resources, and the contextual adaption of these interventions.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-2
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-3
content type line 23
ObjectType-Review-1
Authors’ addresses: Ayomide Owoyemi, Department of Biomedical and Health Information Sciences, University of Illinois, Chicago, IL, E-mail: ayomideowoyemi@gmail.com. Elvis Anyaehiechukwu Okolie, Teesside University, Middlesbrough, England, E-mail: elvisa.okolie@gmail.com. Kasarachi Omitiran, National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Abuja, Nigeria, E-mail: komitiran@gmail.com. Uchenna Anderson Amaechi, Investment and Impact Division, Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, Geneva, Switzerland, E-mail: uchennaanderson.amaechi@theglobalfund.org. Babasola Olufemi Sodipo, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, E-mail: babasolasodipo@gmail.com. Olufemi Ajumobi, School of Community Health Sciences, University of Nevada, Reno, NV, E-mail: femiajumobi@googlemail.com. Chukwudi Ernest Nnaji, School of Public Health and Family Medicine, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa, E-mail: chuksmannaji@yahoo.com. Ijeoma Nkem Okedo-Alex, Department of Community Medicine, Alex Ekwueme Federal University Teaching Hospital Abakaliki, Nigeria, E-mail: ijeomaninadr@gmail.com.
ISSN:0002-9637
1476-1645
DOI:10.4269/ajtmh.20-1533