COVID-19 pandemic: ten research questions Africa must answer for itself.
Ghana Med J
; 54(4 Suppl): 107-112, 2020 Dec.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1436203
ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic is spreading through Africa and governments are making frantic efforts to control spread, hospitalizations and deaths. While control measures are being taken, research into the biomedical and socio-cultural aspects of the pandemic, relevant to the African population, should not be ignored. It should not be assumed that research performed in Asian, American and European populations will always be applicable to Africa. Rather, research should be done in Africa to answer questions peculiar to the epidemic on the continent and help inform international guidelines. National guidelines for treatment and prevention, patient recoveries and discharge, and public health control measures should be based on research performed in the appropriate context for them to be effective and robust. Urgent research is needed in viral immunology and shedding, treatment and prevention trials, protection of healthcare personnel, and antimicrobial use among others. In this article, we propose ten research questions that when answered in a timely manner by scientists in Africa, will enhance Africa's response to the pandemic. FUNDING:
GBK is supported by a fellowship from the European Developing Countries Clinical Trials Fellowship as part of the EDCTP (2) program. The funder had no role in the preparation of this manuscript.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Public Health
/
Infection Control
/
Biomedical Research
/
Black People
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
Limits:
Humans
Country/Region as subject:
Africa
Language:
English
Journal:
Ghana Med J
Year:
2020
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Gmj.v54i4s.17
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