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Evaluating the Preparedness of Child Health Facilities and Health Care Providers to COVID 19 Pandemic

Received: 10 September 2020    Accepted: 9 October 2020    Published: 17 October 2020
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Abstract

The challenges of diagnosis of SARS-CoV2 infection in the paediatric population includes not only the mild nature of the disease, but the similarity in the symptomatology of the COVID-19 disease to common childhood illness, and the possibility that the infected children could be “silent transmitters” to the family members and health care workers [HCW]. The challenge raises the doubt on the level of preparedness, awareness of the child health facilities [HCF], and HCW in adopting measures at combatting the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. This study evaluated the preparedness and response of HCF and HCW in paediatric settings to the 2019-novel coronavirus pandemic. A cross-sectional study involving child HCF and HCW. An online tool was used to evaluate preparedness for the management of infectious disease outbreaks as typified by the COVID-19 Outbreak. The information collected included demographic characteristics of the health personnel providing care for children, infection control practices, knowledge, and preparedness for prevention of COVID-19. Data generated were analyzed using the SPSS version 23.0. A majority of respondents were medical doctors (89%), practicing for >5years (75%), and in public health care facilities (69%). A significant proportion of the health facilities had an infectious disease unit (68%) and policy on disease outbreak (60%) in place. 144 (96%) respondents knew SARS-CoV-2 was responsible for COVID-19 and the incubation period was an average of 2 – 14 days. Most of the respondents were aware that the disease could be with or without symptoms (86%), as well as mimic other childhood illnesses (93%). Most of the centres (55%) had fair policy strength towards combating the disease. IPC policies have been established in most paediatric facilities to combat the recurring threat of communicable disease outbreaks. There is a need for further scaling up of resources to address the COVID-19 pandemic.

Published in European Journal of Preventive Medicine (Volume 8, Issue 5)
DOI 10.11648/j.ejpm.20200805.16
Page(s) 91-96
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), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Preparedness, Health Facilities, Coronavirus Disease

References
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Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    Abideen Salako, Oluwatosin Odubela, Tomilola Musari-Martins, Zaidat Musa, Titilola Gbaja-Biamila, et al. (2020). Evaluating the Preparedness of Child Health Facilities and Health Care Providers to COVID 19 Pandemic. European Journal of Preventive Medicine, 8(5), 91-96. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ejpm.20200805.16

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    ACS Style

    Abideen Salako; Oluwatosin Odubela; Tomilola Musari-Martins; Zaidat Musa; Titilola Gbaja-Biamila, et al. Evaluating the Preparedness of Child Health Facilities and Health Care Providers to COVID 19 Pandemic. Eur. J. Prev. Med. 2020, 8(5), 91-96. doi: 10.11648/j.ejpm.20200805.16

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    AMA Style

    Abideen Salako, Oluwatosin Odubela, Tomilola Musari-Martins, Zaidat Musa, Titilola Gbaja-Biamila, et al. Evaluating the Preparedness of Child Health Facilities and Health Care Providers to COVID 19 Pandemic. Eur J Prev Med. 2020;8(5):91-96. doi: 10.11648/j.ejpm.20200805.16

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ejpm.20200805.16,
      author = {Abideen Salako and Oluwatosin Odubela and Tomilola Musari-Martins and Zaidat Musa and Titilola Gbaja-Biamila and Babasola Opaneye and David Oladele and Priscilla Ezemelue and Harry Ohwodo and Oliver Ezechi and Agatha David},
      title = {Evaluating the Preparedness of Child Health Facilities and Health Care Providers to COVID 19 Pandemic},
      journal = {European Journal of Preventive Medicine},
      volume = {8},
      number = {5},
      pages = {91-96},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ejpm.20200805.16},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ejpm.20200805.16},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ejpm.20200805.16},
      abstract = {The challenges of diagnosis of SARS-CoV2 infection in the paediatric population includes not only the mild nature of the disease, but the similarity in the symptomatology of the COVID-19 disease to common childhood illness, and the possibility that the infected children could be “silent transmitters” to the family members and health care workers [HCW]. The challenge raises the doubt on the level of preparedness, awareness of the child health facilities [HCF], and HCW in adopting measures at combatting the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. This study evaluated the preparedness and response of HCF and HCW in paediatric settings to the 2019-novel coronavirus pandemic. A cross-sectional study involving child HCF and HCW. An online tool was used to evaluate preparedness for the management of infectious disease outbreaks as typified by the COVID-19 Outbreak. The information collected included demographic characteristics of the health personnel providing care for children, infection control practices, knowledge, and preparedness for prevention of COVID-19. Data generated were analyzed using the SPSS version 23.0. A majority of respondents were medical doctors (89%), practicing for >5years (75%), and in public health care facilities (69%). A significant proportion of the health facilities had an infectious disease unit (68%) and policy on disease outbreak (60%) in place. 144 (96%) respondents knew SARS-CoV-2 was responsible for COVID-19 and the incubation period was an average of 2 – 14 days. Most of the respondents were aware that the disease could be with or without symptoms (86%), as well as mimic other childhood illnesses (93%). Most of the centres (55%) had fair policy strength towards combating the disease. IPC policies have been established in most paediatric facilities to combat the recurring threat of communicable disease outbreaks. There is a need for further scaling up of resources to address the COVID-19 pandemic.},
     year = {2020}
    }
    

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    AU  - Abideen Salako
    AU  - Oluwatosin Odubela
    AU  - Tomilola Musari-Martins
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    AU  - Titilola Gbaja-Biamila
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    AU  - Priscilla Ezemelue
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    JF  - European Journal of Preventive Medicine
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    AB  - The challenges of diagnosis of SARS-CoV2 infection in the paediatric population includes not only the mild nature of the disease, but the similarity in the symptomatology of the COVID-19 disease to common childhood illness, and the possibility that the infected children could be “silent transmitters” to the family members and health care workers [HCW]. The challenge raises the doubt on the level of preparedness, awareness of the child health facilities [HCF], and HCW in adopting measures at combatting the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. This study evaluated the preparedness and response of HCF and HCW in paediatric settings to the 2019-novel coronavirus pandemic. A cross-sectional study involving child HCF and HCW. An online tool was used to evaluate preparedness for the management of infectious disease outbreaks as typified by the COVID-19 Outbreak. The information collected included demographic characteristics of the health personnel providing care for children, infection control practices, knowledge, and preparedness for prevention of COVID-19. Data generated were analyzed using the SPSS version 23.0. A majority of respondents were medical doctors (89%), practicing for >5years (75%), and in public health care facilities (69%). A significant proportion of the health facilities had an infectious disease unit (68%) and policy on disease outbreak (60%) in place. 144 (96%) respondents knew SARS-CoV-2 was responsible for COVID-19 and the incubation period was an average of 2 – 14 days. Most of the respondents were aware that the disease could be with or without symptoms (86%), as well as mimic other childhood illnesses (93%). Most of the centres (55%) had fair policy strength towards combating the disease. IPC policies have been established in most paediatric facilities to combat the recurring threat of communicable disease outbreaks. There is a need for further scaling up of resources to address the COVID-19 pandemic.
    VL  - 8
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Author Information
  • Clinical Sciences Department, Nigerian Institute of Medical Research, Lagos, Nigeria

  • Clinical Sciences Department, Nigerian Institute of Medical Research, Lagos, Nigeria

  • Clinical Sciences Department, Nigerian Institute of Medical Research, Lagos, Nigeria

  • Monitoring and Evaluation Unit, Nigerian Institute of Medical Research, Lagos, Nigeria

  • Clinical Sciences Department, Nigerian Institute of Medical Research, Lagos, Nigeria

  • Clinical Sciences Department, Nigerian Institute of Medical Research, Lagos, Nigeria

  • Clinical Sciences Department, Nigerian Institute of Medical Research, Lagos, Nigeria

  • Clinical Sciences Department, Nigerian Institute of Medical Research, Lagos, Nigeria

  • Clinical Sciences Department, Nigerian Institute of Medical Research, Lagos, Nigeria

  • Clinical Sciences Department, Nigerian Institute of Medical Research, Lagos, Nigeria

  • Clinical Sciences Department, Nigerian Institute of Medical Research, Lagos, Nigeria

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