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How prepared is Africa to face COVID-19?

The epidemic of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in China caused by the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has become a global concern and subsequently labeled a pandemic by the World Health Organization on March 11th. As the world mobilizes to contain the COVID-19, scie...

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Autores principales: Wadoum, Raoul Emeric Guetiya, Clarke, Andrew
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: The African Field Epidemiology Network 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7266480/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32528612
http://dx.doi.org/10.11604/pamj.supp.2020.35.2.22665
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author Wadoum, Raoul Emeric Guetiya
Clarke, Andrew
author_facet Wadoum, Raoul Emeric Guetiya
Clarke, Andrew
author_sort Wadoum, Raoul Emeric Guetiya
collection PubMed
description The epidemic of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in China caused by the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has become a global concern and subsequently labeled a pandemic by the World Health Organization on March 11th. As the world mobilizes to contain the COVID-19, scientists and public health experts are increasingly alarmed about the potentially catastrophic effects of an outbreak in Africa. The establishment of Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention by the Africa Union in 2017 was an unprecedented move toward strengthening national responses, so far enabling all fifty member states with confirmed cases of COVID-19 to adequately respond, break chains of transmission and effectively contain the spread of SARS-CoV-2. We enter an uncertain and challenging period that may severely test the preparedness, organizational resource and resilience of African states and the fabric of their societies. However, we speculate that the fear associated with COVID-19 may also lead to some of the long-standing messages about simple measures to reduce the spread, such as hand washing, finally becoming absorbed and more universally adopted by health workers and the public. Is it possible that regardless of the terrible threat posed by SARS-CoV-2, the increased adoption of these health protection measures may result in a reduction in the spread of other infectious diseases?
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spelling pubmed-72664802020-06-10 How prepared is Africa to face COVID-19? Wadoum, Raoul Emeric Guetiya Clarke, Andrew Pan Afr Med J Commentary The epidemic of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in China caused by the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has become a global concern and subsequently labeled a pandemic by the World Health Organization on March 11th. As the world mobilizes to contain the COVID-19, scientists and public health experts are increasingly alarmed about the potentially catastrophic effects of an outbreak in Africa. The establishment of Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention by the Africa Union in 2017 was an unprecedented move toward strengthening national responses, so far enabling all fifty member states with confirmed cases of COVID-19 to adequately respond, break chains of transmission and effectively contain the spread of SARS-CoV-2. We enter an uncertain and challenging period that may severely test the preparedness, organizational resource and resilience of African states and the fabric of their societies. However, we speculate that the fear associated with COVID-19 may also lead to some of the long-standing messages about simple measures to reduce the spread, such as hand washing, finally becoming absorbed and more universally adopted by health workers and the public. Is it possible that regardless of the terrible threat posed by SARS-CoV-2, the increased adoption of these health protection measures may result in a reduction in the spread of other infectious diseases? The African Field Epidemiology Network 2020-04-08 /pmc/articles/PMC7266480/ /pubmed/32528612 http://dx.doi.org/10.11604/pamj.supp.2020.35.2.22665 Text en © Raoul Emeric Guetiya Wadoum et al. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/ The Pan African Medical Journal - ISSN 1937-8688. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Commentary
Wadoum, Raoul Emeric Guetiya
Clarke, Andrew
How prepared is Africa to face COVID-19?
title How prepared is Africa to face COVID-19?
title_full How prepared is Africa to face COVID-19?
title_fullStr How prepared is Africa to face COVID-19?
title_full_unstemmed How prepared is Africa to face COVID-19?
title_short How prepared is Africa to face COVID-19?
title_sort how prepared is africa to face covid-19?
topic Commentary
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7266480/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32528612
http://dx.doi.org/10.11604/pamj.supp.2020.35.2.22665
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