Child health services during a COVID-19 outbreak in KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa

9 February, 2021

Dear CHIFA colleagues,

This paper describes the impact of COVID-19 on child health services in South Africa. The HIFA/CHIFA project with WHO on Maintaining health services during COVID is seeking similar research from other countries and (especially) first-hand experience from health professionals. What has been the impact on your country/healthcare facility? What have you done/tried to mitigate the impact?

CITATION: C Jensen, N H McKerrow. Child health services during a COVID-19 outbreak in KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa. S Afr Med J. 2020 Dec 15;0(0):13185.

ABSTRACT:

Background: Current evidence indicates that children are relatively spared from direct COVID-19-related morbidity and mortality, but that the indirect effects of the pandemic pose significant risks to their health and wellbeing.

Objectives: To assess the impact of the local COVID-19 outbreak on routine child health services.

Methods: The District Health Information System data set for KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) provincial health services was accessed, and monthly child health-related data were extracted for the period January 2018 - June 2020. Chronological and geographical variations in sentinel indicators for service access, service delivery and the wellbeing of children were assessed.

Results: During April - June 2020, following the start of the COVID-19 outbreak in KZN, significant declines were seen for clinic attendance (36%; p=0.001) and hospital admissions (50%; p=0.005) of children aged <5 years, with a modest recovery in clinic attendance only. Among service delivery indicators, immunisation coverage recovered most rapidly, with vitamin A supplementation, deworming and food supplementation remaining low. Changes were less pronounced for in- and out-of-hospital births and uptake rates of infant polymerase chain reaction testing for HIV at birth, albeit with wide interdistrict variations, indicating inequalities in access to and provision of maternal and neonatal care. A temporary 47% increase in neonatal facility deaths was reported in May 2020 that could potentially be attributed to COVID-19-related disruption and diversion of health resources.

Conclusions: Multiple indicators demonstrated disruption in service access, service delivery and child wellbeing. Further studies are needed to establish the intermediate- and long-term impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on child health, as well as strategies to mitigate these.

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Best wishes, Neil

Coordinator, WHO-HIFA Collaboration: HIFA project on Essential Health Services and COVID-19

https://www.hifa.org/projects/essential-health-services-and-covid-19

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HIFA profile: Neil Pakenham-Walsh is coordinator of the HIFA global health campaign (Healthcare Information For All - www.hifa.org ), a global community with more than 20,000 members in 180 countries, interacting on six global forums in four languages in collaboration with WHO. Twitter: @hifa_org FB: facebook.com/HIFAdotORG neil@hifa.org