Public health-relevant consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on malaria in sub-Saharan Africa: a scoping review

Malaria Journal

Oliver Razum¹  Alhassan Abdul-Mumin²  Guangyu Lu³  Olaf Müller⁴  Anna-Katharina Heuschen⁴  Osman Sankoh⁵  Umberto D’Alessandro⁶  Lorenz von Seidlein⁷ 

[1] Department of Epidemiology and International Public Health, School of Public Health, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany;Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, School of Medicine, University for Development Studies, Tamale, Ghana;Department of Public Health, Medical College, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, China;Institute of Global Health, Medical School, Ruprecht-Karls-University, Heidelberg, Germany;Institute of Global Health, Medical School, Ruprecht-Karls-University, Heidelberg, Germany;Statistics Sierra Leone, Tower Hill, Freetown, Sierra Leone;School of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa;MRC The Gambia, Serekunda, The Gambia;Mahidol Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit, Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand;

关键词: COVID-19;    Coronavirus;    Malaria;    Pandemic;    Sub-Saharan Africa;    Public health;    Global health;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12936-021-03872-2

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundThe 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.MethodsReview 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.ResultsA 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.ConclusionsThe 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

【 授权许可】

CC BY