COVID-19 Response in Sub-Saharan Low-Resource Setting: Healthcare Soldiers Need Bullets

• Published in: The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene Vol. 103; no. 2; pp. 549 - 550
• Main Authors: Mukwege, Denis, Cadière, Guy-Bernard, Vandenberg, Olivier
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Institute of Tropical Medicine 01.08.2020; The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
• Subjects: Betacoronavirus; Clinical Laboratory Techniques; Communicable Disease Control; Coronavirus Infections - diagnosis; Coronavirus Infections - epidemiology; Coronavirus Infections - prevention & control; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; COVID-19 Testing; Democratic Republic of the Congo - epidemiology; Disease transmission; Health Resources - supply & distribution; Humans; Pandemics - prevention & control; Pneumonia, Viral - diagnosis; Pneumonia, Viral - epidemiology; Pneumonia, Viral - prevention & control; SARS-CoV-2; Stories from the Field; Democratic Republic of the Congo
• DOI: 10.4269/ajtmh.20-0543
• ISSN: 0002-9637

At the time of this writing (May 27, 2020), there are few people infected with COVID-19 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), compared with the rest of the world. On May 22nd, a cumulative total of 1,731 confirmed COVID-19 cases with 60 deaths were reported by the WHO. Among them, only four cases were identified by national authorities in the province of South-Kivu. Several assumptions have been made about this low rate, the most likely of which is that the epidemic has not yet spread in my region. Prevention remains the key element in the fight against COVID-19 before spreading. Here, Mukwege et al explore the response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the province of South-Kivu. Its control and prevention strategy will prove to be in vain if the government do not get quickly molecular diagnostic tests and protective equipment. Indeed because of the inability of national health authorities and regional partners to provide such equipment, the province is still waiting for the holy grail of diagnosis recommended by international guidelines.