Virus outbreak risks robbing Africa of gains

With clinics shunned, unmet medical needs are seen undermining progress

As villager Winifred Muinde's delivery due date drew closer, her anxieties intensified. The Kenyan fretted over how she would get to Nairobi－with its better maternity facilities－when the labor pains kicked in. In her way were the social movement controls and a dusk-to-dawn curfew.

"My plan was to deliver in Nairobi, where health systems are better. But due to the controlled movement in and out of the city, I had to change my option to a level 4 hospital in Matuu, about 40 minutes' drive away," Muinde said of the upheavals caused by Kenya's coronavirus outbreak.

"The worry then was how I would make it to the hospital if the labor pains started at night, with needing to use private means to get there since it's hard to get an ambulance."

Luckily, the labor pains started in the morning and she was taken from her home in Mwatungo village, Machakos county, by an uncle to the hospital, where her baby was delivered safely.

Muinde's experience sheds light on the disruptions felt by people who need medical attention in the shadow of the pandemic.

"The pregnant mothers who had been dropped at night related the frustrating experience of delays due to the curfew but luckily none of them delivered on the way," Muinde said. "Those who dropped them off had to stay in the hospital compound until the morning, because going back would be difficult and frustrating with the need to explain where they were coming from."

Rhodah Munee has also encountered difficulties with her needs for medical care. Munee had an appointment with her doctor for arthritis－at a hospital just 2 kilometers from her home－but she was reluctant to go there out of fear of contracting the virus.

"I understand that elderly people are more susceptible to the disease than others. It's better that I endure the leg ache than contract the virus. I will go for the consultation once the pandemic is over," Munee said.

With hospitals avoided, many people from villages in Machakos and Kitui counties have opted for traditional remedies to heal some of the common ailments like mild fever, cold, cough, headache, toothache and stomachache.

The concerns faced by Muinde and Munee are common in Kenya, and are mirrored across Africa.

The coronavirus emergency has overshadowed other health issues, a scenario that experts say could be costly in the near future.

Scared pregnant women

Mohammed Kuti, governor of Kenya's Isiolo county, has confirmed that pregnant women are scared to go to health facilities and that immunization rates have dropped.

Kuti said efforts are being made to set up coronavirus treatment centers away from other health facilities in order that people can still get care for other needs.

On Thursday, the World Health Organization said efforts must be maintained on the broader health front－highlighting diseases such as malaria and polio－even as African countries battle to bring the coronavirus outbreak under control.

The WHO said brief interruptions of vaccination courses make outbreaks more likely to occur, putting children and other vulnerable groups at risk of life-threatening diseases.

"I urge all countries not to lose focus on their gains made in health as they adapt to tackle this new threat," said Matshidiso Moeti, the WHO regional director for Africa.

"We saw with the Ebola virus disease outbreak in West Africa that we lost more people to malaria than we lost to the Ebola outbreak. Let us not repeat that with COVID-19."