Covid-19 pandemic and global health workers’ mortality: Challenges, implications and prognosis of action for Nigeria Health care delivery system
Keywords:
COVID-19, Pandemic, Health workers, Mortality, Healthcare delivery system, Sustainable development goals, Health workers densityAbstract
COVID-19 is one of the pandemics in the world with the widest spread in terms of shortness of time and space coverage. Very few countries in the world are spared so far. Incidence of death is very high occasioned by COVID-19, especially among health care workers fighting the pandemic which constitutes 10% of global mortality due to COVID-19. Ex-post facto exploratory analysis was used covering December 2019 to end of April, 2020 relying on secondary data professionally sourced in line with the independent variable COVID-19 pandemic and the dependent variable health workers’ mortality. COVID-19 history, symptoms, transmission, containing strategies, were examined in view of attendant mortality, especially of health workers. Analysis was made following functional theory. It was concluded that COVID-19 caused high mortality which endangered health workers of all categories, especially skilled health workers like doctors and nurses. Increasing health workers mortality will cause lack of professionals to manage health facilities in developing countries like Nigeria and impede on the possibility of attaining skilled health workers density, which is a strategic component of achieving Sustainable Development Goals. It was recommended among others that personal protection and test kits should be provided by government, international agencies and humanitarian concerns, and health workers should be given adequate training on management of COVID-19.Downloads
References
1. Abu-Bashal, A. (2020). Nigeria: 113 healthcare workers infected with COVID-19. Anadolu Agency News Broadcasting System, 1st May 2020. www.aa.com.tr. Retrieved 2nd May 2020.
2. Anelli, F. (2020). One hundred Italian doctors have died of coronavirus. Aljazeera News, 9th April 2020. www.aljazeera.com. Retrieved 2nd May 2020.
3. British Broadcasting Corporation. (2020). Coronavirus kills brilliant doctor in Nigeria. BBC News, 16th April 2020. www.bbc.com. Retrieved 2nd May 2020.
4. Centre for Disease Control and Prevention. (2019). Coronavirus disease 2019 symptoms. www.cdc.gov. Retrieved 30th April 2020.
5. Chustecka, Z. (2020). More than 60 doctors in Italy have died in COVID-19 pandemic. Medscape Medical News, 30th March 2020. www.medscape.com. Retrieved 2nd May 2020.
6. Coronavirus Resource Centre. (2020). Update in memoriam: Healthcare workers who have died of COVID-19. Medscape Medical News, 1st April–1st May 2020. www.medscape.com. Retrieved 2nd May 2020.
7. Dalal, N. (2020). Africa cannot afford to lose doctors to COVID-19. World Economic Forum, 9th April 2020. Lusaka Hub: Global Shaper.
8. European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). (2020). Situation update worldwide, as of 3rd May 2020. www.ecdc.europa.eu. Retrieved 3rd May 2020.
9. Ghose, T. (2020). How are people being infected with COVID-19. Livescience. www.livescience.com. Retrieved 1st May 2020.
10. Ikeji, L. (2020). Doctors in Ogun to embark on three-day warning strike amidst COVID-19 pandemic. www.lindaikejiblog.com. Retrieved 3rd May 2020.
11. Kahn, J., & McIntosh, K. (2005). History and recent advances in coronavirus discovery. The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal, 24(11), 223–227.
12. Knowles, D. (2020). How and when will this pandemic end? We asked a virologist. World Economic Forum. www.weforum.org. Retrieved 2nd May 2020.
13. Merton, R. (1936). The unanticipated consequences of purposive social action. American Sociological Review, 1(6), 894–904.
14. National Cancer Institute. (2020). NCI dictionary of cancer terms. United States of America: National Institute of Health – American Cancer Society. www.cancer.gov. Retrieved 3rd May 2020.
15. Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC). (2020). COVID-19 case update as at 1st May 2020. www.ncdc.gov.ng. Retrieved 3rd May 2020.
16. Nigeria Medical Association. (2020). Statistics of doctors in Cross River State Government employment. Calabar: NMA Cross River State Branch.
17. Schlein, L. (2020). COVID-19 Pandemic – WHO: Alarming number of health workers at risk of COVID-19. Voice of America News, 11th April 2020. www.voanews.com. Retrieved 3rd May 2020.
18. Shabam, A. R. (2020). Coronavirus in Africa: Update. Africanews. www.africanews.com. Retrieved 3rd May 2020.
19. Shereem, M., Khan, S., Kazimi, A., Bashir, N., & Rabeea, S. (2020). COVID-19 infection: Origin, transmission and characteristics of human coronavirus. Journal of Advanced Research, 24, 91–98.
20. WebMD. (2020). Coronavirus history, lung disease and respiratory health coronavirus reference. www.webmd.com. Retrieved 2nd May 2020.
21. World Health Organisation. (2016). Health workforce requirements for universal health coverage and the sustainable development goals: Human Resources for Health Observer – Issue No. 17. www.who.int. Retrieved 4th April 2020.
22. World Health Organisation (WHO). (2020). Guidance for health workers – Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak: Rights, roles and responsibilities of health workers, including key considerations for occupational safety and health. www.who.int. Retrieved 2nd May 2020.
23. Zhan, M., Qin, Y., Xue, X., & Zhu, S. (2020). Death from COVID-19 of 23 healthcare workers in China. The New England Journal of Medicine, Letter to the Editor. doi:10.1506/NEJMC2005696. www.nejm.org. Retrieved 2nd May 2020.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
