Journal Article Scoping Review Epublish 9 citations
PubMed: 39681911 DOI: 10.1186/s44263-024-00083-0
The impact of COVID-19 on health service utilization in sub-Saharan Africa-a scoping review.
BMC Glob Public Health 2(1):51
Authors: Elliot Koranteng Tannor, John Amuasi, Reinhard Busse, Daniel Opoku, Emmanuel Ofori, Kwadwo Faka Gyan, Minas Aikins, Kojo Hutton-Mensah, Priscilla Opare-Addo, Wilm Quentin
Affiliations
- Department of Global Health, School of Public Health, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana.
- Department of Medicine, School of Medicine and Dentistry, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana.
- German-West African Center for Global Health and Pandemic Preparedness (G-WAC), Kumasi, Ghana.
- Department of Health Care Management, Technische Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
- Department of Global Health, School of Public Health, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana.
- German-West African Center for Global Health and Pandemic Preparedness (G-WAC), Kumasi, Ghana.
- Global Health and Infectious Diseases Research Group, Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Research in Tropical Medicine, Kumasi, Ghana.
- Department of Implementation Research, Global One Health Research Group, Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine, Hamburg, Germany.
- Department of Medicine, Division for Tropical Medicine, University Medical Centre Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.
- Department of Health Care Management, Technische Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
- Grey Nuns Community Hospital, Edmonton, Canada.
- Department of Medicine, Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, Kumasi, Ghana.
- Chair of Planetary & Public Health, University of Bayreuth, Bayreuth, Germany.
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Despite comparatively low rates of COVID-19 admissions and recorded deaths in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), the pandemic still had significant impact on health service utilization (HSU). The aim of this scoping review is to synthesize the available evidence of HSU in SSA during the pandemic, focusing on types of studies, changes in HSU compared with the pre-pandemic period, and changes among specific patient groups.
METHODS
The scoping review was guided by the methodological framework for conducting scoping reviews developed by Arksey and O'Malley. We identified relevant studies through a search of PubMed (MEDLINE), Embase, Scopus, and Web of Science. We then provided a general descriptive overview of the extracted data focusing on the types of studies, patient groups, and change in HSU.
RESULTS
We identified 262 studies reporting on HSU in 39 SSA countries. Studies were mainly quantitative (192; 73.3%), involving multiple centers (163; 62.2%), conducted in hospitals (205; 78.2%), and in urban settings (121; 46.2%). The median number of participants was 836.5 (IQR: 101.5-5897) involving 62.5% females. Most studies (92; 35.1%) focused on communicable diseases and mainly among outpatients (90; 34.2%). Maternal and child health studies formed the largest patient group (58; 22.1%) followed by people living with HIV (32; 12.2%). Change in HSU was reported in 249 (95.0%) studies with 221 (84.4%) studies reporting a decrease in HSU. The median decrease in HSU was 35.6% (IQR: 19.0-55.8) and median increase was 16.2% (IQR: 9.1-31.9). The patient group with the largest percentage decrease was cardiovascular diseases (68.0%; IQR: 16.7-71.1) and the lowest percentage decrease was in patients with infections (27.0%; IQR: 16.6-45.6).
CONCLUSIONS
A large body of literature is available on the effects of the pandemic on HSU in SSA. Most studies report decreases in HSU during the pandemic. However, patterns differ widely across disease categories, patient groups, and during different time periods of the pandemic.
MeSH
Covid-19, Pandemics, Health Services