Like the 2014-2016 West Africa Ebola Virus Disease crisis, the 2019 Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) now hit the television screens. The leaders of the world’s most powerful nations including the United States have raised concerns. Global Capitals are on high alert of bracing for the worst-case scenario if the COVID-19 spreads. It’s important to be concerned, but at the same time to take the right measures, taking the right measures is the most difficult think in an outbreak response. Reducing fears and panic and engaging the communities are some of the sample things.
In the 2014-2016 outbreak, I warned, even before a public health emergency of international concern was declared on August 8, 2014 by WHO, that the Ebola virus, if it was not taken care of, will be a global pandemic. Today, the World MUST take “careful steps” and “work extremely and closely together” as countries. Share technical and scientific data, bring communities together by engaging them. The World is dealing with a Global Pandemic! By the public health definition, we should brace ourselves for that situation, what we should be more concern about now is how it is handled in a cohesive, collective and put the right tools, including messaging to minimize the global impact and scale.
This might have a catastrophic effect on developing countries with weak health systems. Developing countries should be able to mobilize support from key technical partners, like WHO, CDC, USAID and others as was done with Ebola in West Africa.
Many African Countries health systems are weak and challenged. The biggest handicap from my experience in outbreak response, leading the 2014-2016 Ebola Outbreak in Liberia in West Africa is testing capacity. Liberia, at this stage will quickly need substantial support from external partners, sources to deal with a worse case scenario if it were to happen. The health system is seriously challenged.
It is a welcoming news for building testing capacities very quickly on the African continent from a baseline of 2 to 26 laboratories. This was done in record time, a big jump. However, I am cautiously optimistic about that number. looking at the complexity of testing CoVID-19 and the supply chain for laboratories, the reagents, staffing, etc. A continent of over 55 countries there is a huge gap in testing with only 47% having capacity according to the WHO African region. Testing is very key to responding to any epidemic, less well known about disease, COVID-19. To be confident about the testing capacities for COVID-19 quality control system for monitoring test results with other superior laboratories is recommended.
When you don’t know what you are dealing with you cannot response adequately. The health facilities are not designed to isolate high containment pathogen, the healthcare facilities have inadequate infection prevention and control capacities and materials. This usually put health care workers who are frontline fighters at high risk. I am deeply concern about the lack of adequate capacity to treat critical cases of COVID-19, if the disease were to reach a pandemic level and reach the shores of Africa.
Some recommendations on preparedness for developing countries toward the COVID-19 are to conduct simulation exercises, activate or reactivate IMS systems and EOCs to be on standby mood, screening at ports of entry, increase testing capacities, Ambulance referral system, including getting bedside rapid test kits, emphasis of diagnostic capacities, preposition of personal protective equipment/materials and training of rapid response teams. He cautions against taking people infected with COVID-19 in health care facilities that are not specialized to treat respiratory illness, noting this will jeopardize other patients and spread nosocomial infection (hospital-acquired infection.
Tolbert Nyenswah is a Senior Research Associate in the department of International Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Nyenswah is a founder and first Director General of the National Public Health Institute of Liberia, a center for excellent for public health, primarily, focus on preventing, detecting and responding to public health threats, Nyenswah served as former Deputy Minister of Health for Public Health Emergencies and Epidemic Control, former Assistant Minister of Health & Social Welfare as well as the Deputy Chief Medical Officer for disease prevention at the Liberian Ministry of Health and Social Welfare (now Ministry of Health. As the Incident Manager for the Liberia Incident Management Response for Ebola he managed the multinational team responding to the world’s largest unprecedented Ebola Outbreak. Nyenswah is also a member of the Global Health Index International Panel of Experts which asses the overall health of nations globally based on a multitude of health indicators.