Buonsenso Danilo, Iodice Francesco, Cinicola Bianca, Raffaelli Francesca, Sowa Solia, Ricciardi Walter
Department of Woman and Child Health and Public Health, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli IRCCS, Rome, Italy.
Dipartimento di Scienze Biotecnologiche di Base, Cliniche Intensivologiche e Perioperatorie, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Rome, Italy.
Front Pediatr. 2021 Feb 10;8:587638. doi: 10.3389/fped.2020.587638. eCollection 2020.
Growing evidences are showing the potential indirect effects of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) on the health systems of low-resource settings, where diseases such as Tuberculosis, Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Malaria represent major killers. Therefore, we performed a retrospective study aimed to evaluate the impact of COVID-19 on Malaria programs in a peripheral region of Sierra Leone, previously involved by the Ebola outbreak in 2015, when malaria care have been impaired since local health systems were overwhelmed by Ebola cases. During COVID-19 in Sierra Leone, we did not notice a significant drop in malaria diagnosis in children, suggesting that a proactive approach in the management of malaria in endemic countries during COVID-19 may have had a positive impact. A comprehensive approach that include also educational activities to sensitize the local population, was useful to guarantee successful malaria diagnosis and treatment, and prevents excess of malaria deaths due to potential disruption of the local health systems related to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.
越来越多的证据表明，2019年冠状病毒病（COVID-19）可能会对资源匮乏地区的卫生系统产生间接影响，在这些地区，结核病、人类免疫缺陷病毒（HIV）和疟疾等疾病是主要的致死病因。因此，我们开展了一项回顾性研究，旨在评估COVID-19对塞拉利昂一个周边地区疟疾防治项目的影响，该地区曾在2015年爆发过埃博拉疫情，当时当地卫生系统被埃博拉病例压垮，疟疾防治工作受到了影响。在塞拉利昂的COVID-19疫情期间，我们没有发现儿童疟疾诊断率有显著下降，这表明在COVID-19期间，流行国家对疟疾采取积极主动的管理方法可能产生了积极影响。一种综合方法，包括开展教育活动以提高当地居民的认识，有助于确保成功进行疟疾诊断和治疗，并防止因与SARS-CoV-2大流行相关的当地卫生系统潜在中断而导致的疟疾死亡人数过多。
