Public health-relevant consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on malaria in sub-Saharan Africa: a scoping review
Abstract Background The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in unprecedented challenges to health systems worldwide, including the control of non-COVID-19 diseases. Malaria cases and deaths may increase due to the direct and indirect effects of the pandemic in malaria-endemic countries, particularly in s...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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BMC
2021-08-01
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| Series: | Malaria Journal |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1186/s12936-021-03872-2 |
| _version_ | 1818597894893076480 |
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| author | Anna-Katharina Heuschen Guangyu Lu Oliver Razum Alhassan Abdul-Mumin Osman Sankoh Lorenz von Seidlein Umberto D’Alessandro Olaf Müller |
| author_facet | Anna-Katharina Heuschen Guangyu Lu Oliver Razum Alhassan Abdul-Mumin Osman Sankoh Lorenz von Seidlein Umberto D’Alessandro Olaf Müller |
| author_sort | Anna-Katharina Heuschen |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Background The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in unprecedented challenges to health systems worldwide, including the control of non-COVID-19 diseases. Malaria cases and deaths may increase due to the direct and indirect effects of the pandemic in malaria-endemic countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). This scoping review aims to summarize information on public health-relevant effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the malaria situation in SSA. Methods Review of publications and manuscripts on preprint servers, in peer-reviewed journals and in grey literature documents from 1 December, 2019 to 9 June, 2021. A structured search was conducted on different databases using predefined eligibility criteria for the selection of articles. Results A total of 51 papers have been included in the analysis. Modelling papers have predicted a significant increase in malaria cases and malaria deaths in SSA due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many papers provided potential explanations for expected COVID-19 effects on the malaria burden; these ranged from relevant diagnostical and clinical aspects to reduced access to health care services, impaired availability of curative and preventive commodities and medications, and effects on malaria prevention campaigns. Compared to previous years, fewer country reports provided data on the actual number of malaria cases and deaths in 2020, with mixed results. While highly endemic countries reported evidence of decreased malaria cases in health facilities, low endemic countries reported overall higher numbers of malaria cases and deaths in 2020. Conclusions The findings from this review provide evidence for a significant but diverse impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on malaria in SSA. There is the need to further investigate the public health consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on the malaria burden. Protocol registered on Open Science Framework: https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/STQ9D |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-16T11:55:04Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-a240a2213d7e4b66b7de3fa959cdcdad |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1475-2875 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-16T11:55:04Z |
| publishDate | 2021-08-01 |
| publisher | BMC |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Malaria Journal |
| spelling | doaj.art-a240a2213d7e4b66b7de3fa959cdcdad2022-12-21T22:32:35ZengBMCMalaria Journal1475-28752021-08-0120111610.1186/s12936-021-03872-2Public health-relevant consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on malaria in sub-Saharan Africa: a scoping reviewAnna-Katharina Heuschen0Guangyu Lu1Oliver Razum2Alhassan Abdul-Mumin3Osman Sankoh4Lorenz von Seidlein5Umberto D’Alessandro6Olaf Müller7Institute of Global Health, Medical School, Ruprecht-Karls-UniversityDepartment of Public Health, Medical College, Yangzhou UniversityDepartment of Epidemiology and International Public Health, School of Public Health, Bielefeld UniversityDepartment of Paediatrics and Child Health, School of Medicine, University for Development StudiesInstitute of Global Health, Medical School, Ruprecht-Karls-UniversityMahidol Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit, Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol UniversityMRC The GambiaInstitute of Global Health, Medical School, Ruprecht-Karls-UniversityAbstract Background The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in unprecedented challenges to health systems worldwide, including the control of non-COVID-19 diseases. Malaria cases and deaths may increase due to the direct and indirect effects of the pandemic in malaria-endemic countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). This scoping review aims to summarize information on public health-relevant effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the malaria situation in SSA. Methods Review of publications and manuscripts on preprint servers, in peer-reviewed journals and in grey literature documents from 1 December, 2019 to 9 June, 2021. A structured search was conducted on different databases using predefined eligibility criteria for the selection of articles. Results A total of 51 papers have been included in the analysis. Modelling papers have predicted a significant increase in malaria cases and malaria deaths in SSA due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many papers provided potential explanations for expected COVID-19 effects on the malaria burden; these ranged from relevant diagnostical and clinical aspects to reduced access to health care services, impaired availability of curative and preventive commodities and medications, and effects on malaria prevention campaigns. Compared to previous years, fewer country reports provided data on the actual number of malaria cases and deaths in 2020, with mixed results. While highly endemic countries reported evidence of decreased malaria cases in health facilities, low endemic countries reported overall higher numbers of malaria cases and deaths in 2020. Conclusions The findings from this review provide evidence for a significant but diverse impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on malaria in SSA. There is the need to further investigate the public health consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on the malaria burden. Protocol registered on Open Science Framework: https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/STQ9Dhttps://doi.org/10.1186/s12936-021-03872-2COVID-19CoronavirusMalariaPandemicSub-Saharan AfricaPublic health |
| spellingShingle | Anna-Katharina Heuschen Guangyu Lu Oliver Razum Alhassan Abdul-Mumin Osman Sankoh Lorenz von Seidlein Umberto D’Alessandro Olaf Müller Public health-relevant consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on malaria in sub-Saharan Africa: a scoping review Malaria Journal COVID-19 Coronavirus Malaria Pandemic Sub-Saharan Africa Public health |
| title | Public health-relevant consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on malaria in sub-Saharan Africa: a scoping review |
| title_full | Public health-relevant consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on malaria in sub-Saharan Africa: a scoping review |
| title_fullStr | Public health-relevant consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on malaria in sub-Saharan Africa: a scoping review |
| title_full_unstemmed | Public health-relevant consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on malaria in sub-Saharan Africa: a scoping review |
| title_short | Public health-relevant consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on malaria in sub-Saharan Africa: a scoping review |
| title_sort | public health relevant consequences of the covid 19 pandemic on malaria in sub saharan africa a scoping review |
| topic | COVID-19 Coronavirus Malaria Pandemic Sub-Saharan Africa Public health |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1186/s12936-021-03872-2 |
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