Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2022 May 2;12(5):e056896.
doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2021-056896.

Assessment of COVID-19 pandemic responses in African countries: thematic synthesis of WHO intra-action review reports

Ambrose Talisuna  1 , Chinwe Iwu  2 , J Okeibunor  3   4 , Mary Stephen  3 , Emmanuel Onuche Musa  3 , Belinda Louise Herring  3 , Otim Patrick Cossy Ramadan  5 , Daniel Yota  3 , Miriam Nanyunja  6 , Allan Mpairwe  3 , Freddy Mutoka Banza  7 , Amadou Bailo Diallo  3 , Roland Kimbi Wango  3 , Christian Massidi  3 , Hilary Kagume Njenge  3 , Martin Traore  3 , Antonio Oke  3 , Boukare Bonkoungou  8 , Landry Ndriko Mayigane  9 , Ishata Nannie Conteh  3 , Fekadu Senait  3 , Stella Chungong  3 , Benido Impouma  3 , Nsenga Ngoy  3 , Charles Shey Wiysonge  10   11 , Zabulon Yoti  3 , Abdou Salam Gueye  3
Affiliations
Review

Assessment of COVID-19 pandemic responses in African countries: thematic synthesis of WHO intra-action review reports

Ambrose Talisuna et al. BMJ Open. .

Abstract

Objectives: We conducted a review of intra-action review (IAR) reports of the national response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Africa. We highlight best practices and challenges and offer perspectives for the future.

Design: A thematic analysis across 10 preparedness and response domains, namely, governance, leadership, and coordination; planning and monitoring; risk communication and community engagement; surveillance, rapid response, and case investigation; infection prevention and control; case management; screening and monitoring at points of entry; national laboratory system; logistics and supply chain management; and maintaining essential health services during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Setting: All countries in the WHO African Region were eligible for inclusion in the study. National IAR reports submitted by March 2021 were analysed.

Results: We retrieved IAR reports from 18 African countries. The COVID-19 pandemic response in African countries has relied on many existing response systems such as laboratory systems, surveillance systems for previous outbreaks of highly infectious diseases and a logistics management information system. These best practices were backed by strong political will. The key challenges included low public confidence in governments, inadequate adherence to infection prevention and control measures, shortages of personal protective equipment, inadequate laboratory capacity, inadequate contact tracing, poor supply chain and logistics management systems, and lack of training of key personnel at national and subnational levels.

Conclusion: These findings suggest that African countries' response to the COVID-19 pandemic was prompt and may have contributed to the lower cases and deaths in the region compared with countries in other regions. The IARs demonstrate that many technical areas still require immediate improvement to guide decisions in subsequent waves or future outbreaks.

Keywords: COVID-19; health policy; health services administration & management; public health.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: AT, JO, MS, EOM, BLH, OPCR, DY, MN, AM, FMB, ABD, RKW, CM, HKN, MT, AO, BB, LNM, INC, FS, SC, BI, NN, ZY and ASG are WHO staff members and have supported countries to conduct IARs but were not involved in the writing of country IAR reports included in the analysis. CI and CSW have no competing interests to declare.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Map of African countries that had conducted and submitted their intra-action review reports by March 2021.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Du Toit A. Outbreak of a novel coronavirus. Nat Rev Microbiol 2020;18:123. 10.1038/s41579-020-0332-0 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. WHO Director-General’s opening remarks at the media briefing on COVID-19 - 11 March 2020. Available: https://www.who.int/director-general/speeches/detail/who-director-genera... [Accessed 2 May 2021].
    1. Mayigane LN, de Vázquez CC, Vente C, et al. . The necessity for intra-action reviews during the COVID-19 pandemic. Lancet Glob Health 2020;8:e1451–2. 10.1016/S2214-109X(20)30414-9 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Maeda JM, Nkengasong JN. The puzzle of the COVID-19 pandemic in Africa. Science 2021;371:27–8. 10.1126/science.abf8832 - DOI - PubMed
    1. World Economic Forum . Why sub-Saharan Africa needs a unique response to COVID-19, 2020.

Publication types

MeSH terms