Safeguarding Maternal, Child and Reproductive Health During COVID-19

MABINGUE NGOM

HALF way into 2020, since the virus that causes COVID-19 was first diagnosed in China in February 2020, there have been more than 11 million confirmed cases, and over half a million fatalities.

With about 30% of the confirmed cases, the United States of America bear most of the burden of the epidemic followed by Brazil, India, Russia, Peru, Spain, United Kingdom and Italy.

The epidemic seems to be steadily rising in Africa, as it went from only a few cases in March to over 500 thousand confirmed cases and more than 11 thousand fatalities by the end of June.

Mortality rate from COVID-19 varies greatly within the West and Central region, as it is very high in countries like Chad (8.5%) and Niger (6.3%) and meanwhile, the lowest are Guinea (0.6%), Ghana (0.6%), Cote d’Ivoire (0.7%) and Gabon (0.8%).

Similarly, access to testing within the region fluctuates