Assessment of pre-eclampsia and eclampsia health commodities' supply chains in selected hospitals of Lagos State during COVID-19 pandemic

Purpose: Pre-eclampsia and eclampsia (PE/E) are rising in Sub-Saharan Africa, including Nigeria. This study aims to evaluate the availability and logistics management of sixteen items from the Nigerian essential medicine list required for managing these conditions. Design/Methodology/approach: A cross-sectional study in 50 health-care facilities in Lagos State, Nigeria, at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic by interviewing the facility's main person in charge of health commodities. Data were recorded during the visit and in the previous six months using the adapted Logistics Indicators Assessment Tool (LIAT). In addition, descriptive analysis was conducted based on the World Health Organization availability index. Findings: The availability of 13 (81%) of the commodities were high, and 3 (19%) were relatively high in the facilities, stock out rate during the visitation and previous six months varied with the commodities: urinalysis strip (22%) and (40%), hydralazine (20%) and (20%), labetalol injection (8%) and (20%), labetalol tablet (24%) and (24%) and sphygmomanometer (8%) and (8%). No stock out was recorded for 11 (69%) commodities. All the facilities observed 9 (75%) out of the 12 storage guidelines, and 36 (72%) had a perfect storage condition score. Limitations/Implications: Current state of PE/E health commodities in the selected facilities is highlighted, and the strengths and weaknesses of the supply chain in these health facilities were identified and discussed. Originality/value: These commodities' availability ranged from reasonably high to very high. Regular supportive supervision is germane to strengthening the logistics management system for these commodities to prevent the negative impact on the health and well-being of the people during the COVID-19 pandemic and post-pandemic. © 2023, Adesola Olalekan, Victor Igweike, Oloruntoba Ekun, Abosede Adegbite and Olayinka Ogunleye.

COVID-19 vaccine acceptance among pregnant women attending antenatal care in public hospitals in eastern Ethiopia: A multi-center facility-based cross-sectional study.

Objectives: The Ethiopian government had planned to vaccinate the total population and started to deliver the COVID-19 vaccine but, there is limited evidence about vaccine acceptance among pregnant women. Thus, this study aimed to assess COVID-19 vaccine acceptance and associated factors among pregnant women attending an antenatal care unit clinic in Eastern Ethiopia. Study design: A facility-based cross-sectional study. Methods: A study was conducted from June 01 to 30/2021 among systematically selected pregnant women. Data were collected using a pre-tested structured questionnaire, which was adapted from previous studies, through a face-to-face interview. Predictors were assessed using a multivariable logistic regression model and reported using an adjusted odds ratio with 95% CI. Statistical significance was declared at p-value less than 0.05. Results: In this study, data from 645 pregnant women were used in the analysis. Overall, 62.2% of pregnant women were willing to be vaccinated if the vaccine is approved by the relevant authority. Fear of side effects (62.04%), a lack of information (54.29%), and uncertainty about the vaccine's safety and efficacy (25%) were the most common reasons for refusal to take the COVID-19 vaccine. The odds of unwillingness to accept the COVID-19 vaccine among pregnant women were increased significantly among mothers who were able to read and write [AOR = 2.9, 95% CI: (1.16, 7.23)], attain 9-12 grade level [AOR = 4.2, 95% CI: (2.1, 8.5)], lack information [AOR = 2.2, 95% CI: (1.41, 3.57)], and having a history of chronic diseases [AOR = 2.52, 95% CI: (1.34, 4.7)]. Conclusion: Less than two-thirds of pregnant women were willing to accept the COVID-19 vaccine. Extensive public health information dissemination aimed at women with lower educational backgrounds and a history of chronic disease could be critical.

The one health landscape in Sub-Saharan African countries.

OBJECTIVES: One Health is transiting from multidisciplinary to transdisciplinary concepts and its viewpoints should move from 'proxy for zoonoses', to include other topics (climate change, nutrition and food safety, policy and planning, welfare and well-being, antimicrobial resistance (AMR), vector-borne diseases, toxicosis and pesticides issues) and thematic fields (social sciences, geography and economics). This work was conducted to map the One Health landscape in Africa. METHODS: An assessment of existing One Health initiatives in Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries was conducted among selected stakeholders using a multi-method approach. Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to One Health initiatives were identified, and their influence, interest and impacts were semi-quantitatively evaluated using literature reviews, questionnaire survey and statistical analysis. RESULTS: One Health Networks and identified initiatives were spatiotemporally spread across SSA and identified stakeholders were classified into four quadrants. It was observed that imbalance in stakeholders' representations led to hesitation in buying-in into One Health approach by stakeholders who are outside the main networks like stakeholders from the policy, budgeting, geography and sometimes, the environment sectors. CONCLUSION: Inclusion of theory of change, monitoring and evaluation frameworks, and tools for standardized evaluation of One Health policies are needed for a sustained future of One Health and future engagements should be outputs- and outcomes-driven and not activity-driven. National roadmaps for One Health implementation and institutionalization are necessary, and proofs of concepts in One Health should be validated and scaled-up. Dependence on external funding is unsustainable and must be addressed in the medium to long-term. Necessary policy and legal instruments to support One Health nationally and sub-nationally should be implemented taking cognizance of contemporary issues like urbanization, endemic poverty and other emerging issues. The utilization of current technologies and One Health approach in addressing the ongoing pandemic of COVID-19 and other emerging diseases are desirable. Finally, One Health implementation should be anticipatory and preemptive, and not reactive in containing disease outbreaks, especially those from the animal sources or the environment before the risk of spillover to human.

COVID-19: Impact analysis and recommendations for power sector operation.

The demand of electricity has been reduced significantly due to the recent COVID-19 pandemic. Governments around the world were compelled to reduce the business activity in response to minimize the threat of coronavirus. This on-going situation due to COVID-19 has changed the lifestyle globally as people are mostly staying home and working from home if possible. Hence, there is a significant increase in residential load demand while there is a substantial decrease in commercial and industrial loads. This devastating situation creates new challenges in the technical and financial activities of the power sector and hence most of the utilities around the world initiated a disaster management plan to tackle this ongoing challenges/threats. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the global scenarios of power systems during COVID-19 along with the socio-economic and technical issues faced by the utilities. Then, this study further scrutinized the Indian power system as a case study and explored scenarios, issues and challenges currently being faced to manage the consumer load demand, including the actions taken by the utilities/power sector for the smooth operation of the power system. Finally, a set of recommendations are presented to support the government/policymakers/utilities around the world not only to overcome the current crisis but also to overcome future unforeseeable pandemic alike scenario.