Population-Based Assessment of the Burden of COVID-19 Infection in African Countries: A First-Year Report Card and Public Health Implications

Authors

Osaro Mgbere
Ogbonna Collins Nwabuko
Olajumoke A Olateju
Omolola E Adepoju
Winston Liaw
Charles Darkoh
Ekere James Essien

Publication Date

1-1-2023

Journal

Therapeutic Advances in Infectious Disease

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic constitutes a global health threat and poses a major burden on the African continent. We assessed the real-world burden of COVID-19 infection in African Union (AU) member states to determine the distributional patterns of epidemiological measures during the first 1 year of the pandemic.

METHODS: This retrospective cross-sectional study utilized COVID-19 data from publicly available data repositories of the African Center for Disease Control and Prevention and

RESULTS: A total of 3.21 million cases were reported during the 1-year period, with 2.6 million recoveries, 536,784 cases remaining active, and 77,486 deaths. Most countries (49.1%,

CONCLUSION: Understanding the true burden of the disease in AU countries is important for establishing the impact of the pandemic in the African continent and for intervention planning, preparedness, and deployment of resources during COVID-19 surges and future pandemics.

DOI

10.1177/20499361231202116

PMID

37779674

PMCID

PMC10540606

PubMedCentral® Posted Date

September 2023

PubMedCentral® Full Text Version

Post-print

Published Open-Access

yes