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Photo credit, AFP
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The researchers looked at hospital care in ten African countries.
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Hospital patients in Africa who are severely ill with Covid-19 are much more likely to die than in other parts of the world, according to a study.
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The critical care resource shortage is the major problem, according to the report.
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These include the lack of specialized personnel and equipment such as blood oxygen monitors.
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The researchers hope their work will improve the care of critically ill patients when resources are limited.
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Despite the high death rate of patients with the Covid-19 virus who ended up in hospital in Africa, the continent as a whole has recorded one of the lowest numbers of deaths from the virus.
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Africa, which has 17% of the world’s population, accounts for 4% of recorded deaths from Covid-19.
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Not to be missed on BBC Africa:
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Researchers examined more than 3,000 patients at 64 hospitals in 10 African countries for this study published in the medical journal The Lancet.
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They found that nearly half of those who needed intensive care died, compared to the global average of less than a third.
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“Mortality is much higher in Africa than in any other region due to limited resources,” one of the research leaders, Professor Bruce Biccard, of the University of Cape Town in South Africa, told the program. BBC Newsday.
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“In fact, only one in two patients who are referred to intensive care are actually admitted. And once they are there, the therapies we can offer them are much less than they should be.”
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The researchers also indicated that in some cases the available resources were underutilized.
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“It is shocking that 68% of hospitals had access to dialysis, but only 10% of patients had it. It is also shocking that proning [retournement d’un patient sur le ventre] was not optimized, ”said Drs Bruce Kirenga and Pauline Byakika-Kibwika of Makerere University in Uganda, commenting on the study.
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They underlined the lack of qualified personnel to use the available equipment as well as the lack of maintenance.
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Professor Biccard, who works at Groote Schuur Hospital in South Africa, said the results showed inequalities in vaccine distribution around the world needed to be addressed.
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“If you have limited intensive care resources, which can’t even cope with the current situation, what we really need to focus on is on vaccinations … because vaccination helps. stop serious infections, ”he told the BBC.
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