COVID-19 Death Reporting Inconsistencies and Working Lessons for Low- and Middle-Income Countries: Opinion

Frontiers in Medicine

article

Garumma Tolu Feyissa¹  Lemi Belay Tolu²  Alex Ezeh¹ 

[1] Dornsife School of Public Health, Drexel University, United States;Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Saint Paul's Hospital Millennium Medical College

关键词: mortality;    corona-virus 2;    SARS CoV-2;    COVID-19;    severe acute respiratory coronavirus 2;    excess mortality;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fmed.2021.595787

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

The corona-virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has caused terrible health, social and economic impacts in the entire world. Thousands have died of the virus since its identification in Wuhan province of China. Deaths from the corona-virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic might arise both in those infected (direct effects), as well as those affected (not infected, but affect indirectly) by altered access to health services; the physical, psychological, and social effects of social distancing; and economic changes. Yet there is no consensus on what to consider as COVID-19 death. In some countries, the reported number of COVID-19 deaths do not include deaths attributed to underlying conditions even when the cases had tested positive for COVID-19 (1). In other countries, such cases are included as COVID-19 deaths. Other countries go even further to include suspected cases in their reports of COVID-19 mortality (2). These factors confuse the comparison of case fatality rates across countries, mainly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), where data recording system and vital registrations are weak. These differences in the reporting of COVID-19 deaths also make it difficult to generate robust evidence to inform policies and strategies to reduce excess mortality from the pandemic. Because of the lack of structured civil registry systems, some low-income countries might be claiming low mortalities related to COVID-19, because of unreported deaths. This may result in unnecessary over confidence or claim of control of the pandemic, which may further lead to low preventative measures among the community and policy makers.

【 授权许可】

CC BY