A healthcare system refers to an organization of people, private or public institutions, as well as resources that are used to deliver healthcare services to meet the health needs of a given population. Since December 2019 when a novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) was identified in Wuhan, China, health systems worldwide started facing shortfalls, a trend that peaked towards the end of the first quarter of 2020. Systems were overwhelmed due to the upsurge in cases to be taken care of, shortage of health workers, poor health seeking behaviours among the general public out of fear of being infected among others. Due to the rapid geographical spread of the pandemic, the health systems all over the world are overstretched with hospitals working under mounting pressures to effectively manage the COVID-19 patients, and to contain the spread of the virus. The world has so far recorded over 5.5 million cases with 342,000 deaths, and Africa alone has 80,829 confirmed cases and over 3,300 deaths according to World Health Organization (WHO). Some African countries from west and central region, have adopted the lessons learned during Ebola outbreaks, and they are using the same measures to tackle the COVID-19 crisis. Of course Ebola and COVID-19 are two different diseases with different treatments. However, there are some aspects that they both share such as hygiene (provision of hand washing stations at community gathering spots), isolating individuals with symptoms and contact tracing to identify the suspects are of paramount in the management of both illnesses. Therefore, it is with no doubt that in post-COVID-19 era, healthcare provision and hospital operations will face a paradigm shift from the familiar way of providing health services to the new normal. The shifting might not be as challenging as people might think, but rather a pointer where Africa needs to project efforts to realize Universal Health Coverage (UHC) with strengthened and robust healthcare systems. This is because the current situation is hardly imposing African states to invest in their healthcare system. Initially African countries were expected to have allocated 15% of their budgets in health as agreed on in the Abuja Declaration in 2001, however by this time (2020), only five countries have achieved that. In the wake of COVID-19, this will be a rational investment for governments to make for a healthy populace. Like a business, availability of sufficient resources leads to better returns, in this case it will be a healthy society with responsive healthcare systems. Based on lessons learnt, African countries are expected to invest in their health infrastructure, advanced technologies, and health workforce. The measures that are being used to manage COVID-19 will remain operational, even after the pandemic. These include but not limited to frequent hand hygiene, adopted infection prevention guidelines at health facilities, and maintaining the continuous supply of essential medicines and health supplies. African countries usually depend on the import of essential healthcare supplies, however during the enforced lockdown many countries have faced overwhelmed shortage of essential equipment. States were left with no other options, except to endorse local manufacturing of hand sanitizers, personal protective equipment (PPEs), and herbal remedies like in case of Madagascar. African pharmaceutical sector have been underdeveloped for so long but with the current experiences it will be a necessity for African countries to strengthen local research, production and use of pharmaceuticals in addressing healthcare needs of their people. Lack of enough health workers was reported among the challenges faced during this pandemic, but the inclusion of community health workers (CHWs) in the frontline team was a great move as seen in the Rwandan response approach. Yes, you might wonder how they helped but it was simple. People who developed the symptoms, instead of going to health facilities where they might contact other patients, were advised to contact the nearest CHW who would connect the suspects with the rapid response team for further testing. I am sure there are other countries that have done so, and a need to train more health workforce after COVID-19 pandemic is still under their consideration. Healthcare providers in the frontline are currently receiving appreciation of the work they are doing to contain the virus, and to mitigate the mental health impact that the pandemic might cause to their loved ones as well as the community at large. These will greatly contribute to improve service delivery in hospitals after the pandemic. The public trust to healthcare providers will be among the cornerstone achievement that COVID-19 will leave unshaken, and will be a starting point to strengthen the healthcare system in the region. African healthcare system has been facing challenges ranging from infectious and non-infectious diseases, lack of resources to lack of good governance among others. Yes, it is true COVID-19 is our current greatest enemy, but it’s also our greatest wake up call to design, develop and sustain a robust and responsive healthcare system into the future. Together we will overcome. The writer is a Master of Science student in. Epidemiology candidate at Mount Kenya University and Pharmacist at EUREKA Pharmaceuticals.
