Risk Management and Healthcare Policy (Mar 2024)
Four Years Since COVID-19 Day Zero: A Time to Evaluate Past and Future Pandemic Control Policies and Practices in Sub-Saharan Africa?
Abstract
Obinna O Oleribe,1,2 Andrew W Taylor-Robinson,3,4 Okey C Nwanyanwu,5 Marsha Y Morgan,6 Simon D Taylor-Robinson7,8 1Office of the Director-General, Nigerian Institute for Medical Research, Lagos, Nigeria; 2Best Health Consult Limited Liability Company, Orange, CA, USA; 3College of Health Sciences, VinUniversity, Hanoi, Vietnam; 4Center for Global Health, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA; 5Fast Forward Africa Limited Liability Company, Austin, TX, USA; 6Division of Medicine, Royal Free Campus, University College London, London, UK; 7Departments of Medicine & Public Health, Busitema University, Mbale, Uganda; 8Department of Surgery and Cancer, Imperial College London, St Mary’s Hospital Campus, London, UKCorrespondence: Simon D Taylor-Robinson, Email [email protected]: Four years after the first case of COVID-19, the world is still determining how best to prevent and control the long-term effects of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) were employed at the start of the pandemic as the only available options, prior to effective vaccines and antiviral agents. The World Health Organization recommended dual vaccination for 70% worldwide as the threshold for a return to “normal” community life. Immunization rates needed to increase in all global regions, irrespective of socioeconomic status, necessitating more equitable access. During the pandemic, wealthier countries hoarded vaccine supplies even when their citizens were immunized. This highlights the already enormous difficulties in healthcare provision faced by low-income sub-Saharan African countries, which remain at risk as industrialized nations have progressed to a post-pandemic era. Thus, in addition to redoubling vaccination efforts public health policymakers should consider ongoing and future use of NPIs. In this narrative account, we advocate that various NPI practices should not be shelved; rather, more research is needed to evaluate their impact in parallel with booster vaccination. This especially applies to so-called “long COVID”. Lessons learned from implementing best practices in resource-limited settings should be incorporated into preparedness guidelines for future infectious disease outbreaks.Keywords: sub-Saharan Africa, COVID-19, health inequality, non-pharmaceutical interventions, pandemic, vaccination
