Hospitals and Healthcare

Inadequate treatment for critically ill patients contributed to higher death rates in Africa, compared to other parts of the world, a study found.

The most critical piece of lifesaving equipment of the coronavirus pandemic is in desperately short supply in Africa: According to the World Health Organization, there are fewer than 2,000 ventilators across 41 countries that reported to it.

Somalia’s health ministry still doesn’t have a single one. The Central African Republic has three. South Sudan, four. Liberia, five. Nigeria, with a population two-thirds that of the United States, has fewer than 100.

Officials say those numbers will change as ventilator donations trickle in. But even in countries with the machines on hand, few doctors have undergone the intensive training to use them, and anesthesiologists, required in most cases to intubate patients or supervise that process, are scarce.

The inadequate equipment and training mean that Africa’s most vulnerable countries stand little chance of saving the lives of their most severe covid-19 cases as the number of patients begins to spike. As of Friday, there were more than 19,000 confirmed coronavirus cases and 1,000 deaths across the continent.

Illness and burnout threaten to exacerbate a growing problem.

Nigeria marks three years without a wild polio case, meaning Africa could be declared free of the disease in 2020