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Essential Health Services at Onset of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Chronicles from a South-West Nigeria Town

Received: 16 June 2022     Accepted: 5 August 2022     Published: 24 August 2022
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Abstract

Introduction: The Corona Virus Disease (COVID-19) triggered an unprecedented disruption in social, economic, political and healthcare delivery mechanisms worldwide. Reports have documented the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on healthcare services in many countries and its impact on the delivery of these services. Few studies in Nigeria have given exact details of the extent of disruptions of these essential services. The objectives of our study were to identify essential services offered during the pandemic response, elicit opinions of healthcare workers about the services accessed by clients during the lockdown and since pandemic onset, and assess the distribution and trends of health services and hospital attendance, before and during this period in a Comprehensive Health Centre in South-West Nigeria. Methods: We conducted a desk review of hospital records and interviews with health workers respectively, across units offering essential services in the Out-Patient Department of the Urban Comprehensive Health Centre (UCHC), Ile-Ife using descriptive data analysis. Information retrieved from the facility’s registers for a one-year period from June 2019 to June 2020 was reviewed to compare trends before the pandemic. Key Informant Interviews with twelve service providers in the facility were conducted to identify related issues the frontline health workers experienced working during this period. Results: Using the mean attendance per service unit prior to the pandemic onset as a reference, essential services in the General Outpatient department reduced by 74% in April and 65% in May 2020; by 86% in the Laboratory in April and 55% in May, by 83% in the Family Planning clinic in April 2020 and by 53% in June 2020. Essential services in the Immunization Clinics reduced by 54% in April and improved by 21% in May 2020. No services were offered in the Nutrition Clinic. in the Antenatal Clinic and the Labor Ward. The five themes that emerged from thematic analysis of the qualitative component were; knowledge of COVID-19 prevention measures, challenges encountered at the onset of COVID-19 lockdown, perception and opinions on the disruption the COVID-19 pandemic caused health workers, barriers to effective health care delivery at the time of pandemic and coping with disruptions in services. Conclusion: This study highlights important insights on the need to support Nigeria and other countries in sub-Saharan Africa during the response to COVID-19 or other outbreaks and how to build better health systems that will be able to withstand further pandemics without disruptions of essential health services.

Published in Central African Journal of Public Health (Volume 8, Issue 4)
DOI 10.11648/j.cajph.20220804.17
Page(s) 177-188
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Coronavirus, Corona Virus Disease, Community Health, Essential Services, Pandemic, Primary Care, Primary Health Care, Nigeria

References
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Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    Olukemi Titilope Olugbade, Macellina Yinyinade Ijadunola, Fausat Adedayo Oyedele, Olaoti Oyeyemi Ogundare, Kayode Thadius Ijadunola. (2022). Essential Health Services at Onset of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Chronicles from a South-West Nigeria Town. Central African Journal of Public Health, 8(4), 177-188. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.cajph.20220804.17

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    ACS Style

    Olukemi Titilope Olugbade; Macellina Yinyinade Ijadunola; Fausat Adedayo Oyedele; Olaoti Oyeyemi Ogundare; Kayode Thadius Ijadunola. Essential Health Services at Onset of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Chronicles from a South-West Nigeria Town. Cent. Afr. J. Public Health 2022, 8(4), 177-188. doi: 10.11648/j.cajph.20220804.17

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    AMA Style

    Olukemi Titilope Olugbade, Macellina Yinyinade Ijadunola, Fausat Adedayo Oyedele, Olaoti Oyeyemi Ogundare, Kayode Thadius Ijadunola. Essential Health Services at Onset of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Chronicles from a South-West Nigeria Town. Cent Afr J Public Health. 2022;8(4):177-188. doi: 10.11648/j.cajph.20220804.17

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  • @article{10.11648/j.cajph.20220804.17,
      author = {Olukemi Titilope Olugbade and Macellina Yinyinade Ijadunola and Fausat Adedayo Oyedele and Olaoti Oyeyemi Ogundare and Kayode Thadius Ijadunola},
      title = {Essential Health Services at Onset of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Chronicles from a South-West Nigeria Town},
      journal = {Central African Journal of Public Health},
      volume = {8},
      number = {4},
      pages = {177-188},
      doi = {10.11648/j.cajph.20220804.17},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.cajph.20220804.17},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.cajph.20220804.17},
      abstract = {Introduction: The Corona Virus Disease (COVID-19) triggered an unprecedented disruption in social, economic, political and healthcare delivery mechanisms worldwide. Reports have documented the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on healthcare services in many countries and its impact on the delivery of these services. Few studies in Nigeria have given exact details of the extent of disruptions of these essential services. The objectives of our study were to identify essential services offered during the pandemic response, elicit opinions of healthcare workers about the services accessed by clients during the lockdown and since pandemic onset, and assess the distribution and trends of health services and hospital attendance, before and during this period in a Comprehensive Health Centre in South-West Nigeria. Methods: We conducted a desk review of hospital records and interviews with health workers respectively, across units offering essential services in the Out-Patient Department of the Urban Comprehensive Health Centre (UCHC), Ile-Ife using descriptive data analysis. Information retrieved from the facility’s registers for a one-year period from June 2019 to June 2020 was reviewed to compare trends before the pandemic. Key Informant Interviews with twelve service providers in the facility were conducted to identify related issues the frontline health workers experienced working during this period. Results: Using the mean attendance per service unit prior to the pandemic onset as a reference, essential services in the General Outpatient department reduced by 74% in April and 65% in May 2020; by 86% in the Laboratory in April and 55% in May, by 83% in the Family Planning clinic in April 2020 and by 53% in June 2020. Essential services in the Immunization Clinics reduced by 54% in April and improved by 21% in May 2020. No services were offered in the Nutrition Clinic. in the Antenatal Clinic and the Labor Ward. The five themes that emerged from thematic analysis of the qualitative component were; knowledge of COVID-19 prevention measures, challenges encountered at the onset of COVID-19 lockdown, perception and opinions on the disruption the COVID-19 pandemic caused health workers, barriers to effective health care delivery at the time of pandemic and coping with disruptions in services. Conclusion: This study highlights important insights on the need to support Nigeria and other countries in sub-Saharan Africa during the response to COVID-19 or other outbreaks and how to build better health systems that will be able to withstand further pandemics without disruptions of essential health services.},
     year = {2022}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - Essential Health Services at Onset of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Chronicles from a South-West Nigeria Town
    AU  - Olukemi Titilope Olugbade
    AU  - Macellina Yinyinade Ijadunola
    AU  - Fausat Adedayo Oyedele
    AU  - Olaoti Oyeyemi Ogundare
    AU  - Kayode Thadius Ijadunola
    Y1  - 2022/08/24
    PY  - 2022
    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.cajph.20220804.17
    DO  - 10.11648/j.cajph.20220804.17
    T2  - Central African Journal of Public Health
    JF  - Central African Journal of Public Health
    JO  - Central African Journal of Public Health
    SP  - 177
    EP  - 188
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2575-5781
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.cajph.20220804.17
    AB  - Introduction: The Corona Virus Disease (COVID-19) triggered an unprecedented disruption in social, economic, political and healthcare delivery mechanisms worldwide. Reports have documented the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on healthcare services in many countries and its impact on the delivery of these services. Few studies in Nigeria have given exact details of the extent of disruptions of these essential services. The objectives of our study were to identify essential services offered during the pandemic response, elicit opinions of healthcare workers about the services accessed by clients during the lockdown and since pandemic onset, and assess the distribution and trends of health services and hospital attendance, before and during this period in a Comprehensive Health Centre in South-West Nigeria. Methods: We conducted a desk review of hospital records and interviews with health workers respectively, across units offering essential services in the Out-Patient Department of the Urban Comprehensive Health Centre (UCHC), Ile-Ife using descriptive data analysis. Information retrieved from the facility’s registers for a one-year period from June 2019 to June 2020 was reviewed to compare trends before the pandemic. Key Informant Interviews with twelve service providers in the facility were conducted to identify related issues the frontline health workers experienced working during this period. Results: Using the mean attendance per service unit prior to the pandemic onset as a reference, essential services in the General Outpatient department reduced by 74% in April and 65% in May 2020; by 86% in the Laboratory in April and 55% in May, by 83% in the Family Planning clinic in April 2020 and by 53% in June 2020. Essential services in the Immunization Clinics reduced by 54% in April and improved by 21% in May 2020. No services were offered in the Nutrition Clinic. in the Antenatal Clinic and the Labor Ward. The five themes that emerged from thematic analysis of the qualitative component were; knowledge of COVID-19 prevention measures, challenges encountered at the onset of COVID-19 lockdown, perception and opinions on the disruption the COVID-19 pandemic caused health workers, barriers to effective health care delivery at the time of pandemic and coping with disruptions in services. Conclusion: This study highlights important insights on the need to support Nigeria and other countries in sub-Saharan Africa during the response to COVID-19 or other outbreaks and how to build better health systems that will be able to withstand further pandemics without disruptions of essential health services.
    VL  - 8
    IS  - 4
    ER  - 

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Author Information
  • Department of Community Health, Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospitals Complex, Ile-Ife, Nigeria

  • Department of Community Health, Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospitals Complex, Ile-Ife, Nigeria

  • Department of Community Health, Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospitals Complex, Ile-Ife, Nigeria

  • Department of Community Health, Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospitals Complex, Ile-Ife, Nigeria

  • Department of Community Health, Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospitals Complex, Ile-Ife, Nigeria

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