Feature Stories

Shortly after Zambia reported its first cases of COVID-19 in March 2020, the country’s National Public Health Institute launched intensive, targeted screenings for cases in high-risk populations and locations. In Nakonde, a town on the border with Tanzania, the screenings revealed a huge number of infections.

In many countries, tackling the COVID-19 pandemic has taken cues from other disease approaches, such as lessons from protecting communities against Ebola. But in Nigeria’s Niger Delta, health workers have found inspiration from guarding against the coronavirus.

“We are pleased to inform you that after the recent COVID-19 test conducted, your results came out negative,” read a text message to Benedict Abbey. “Please do well to continue to strictly adhere to the precautionary protocols and we will get through this healthy and safe.”

Hesitancy to get tested, avoiding contact tracers or wariness of what the neighbours will say: the COVID-19 pandemic has triggered a variety of reactions among some Ouagadougou residents that have complicated timely response.

Accra – Evelyn Narki Dowuona bears a great responsibility at Ga East Municipal Hospital in the Ghanaian capital Accra, where, as in much of the world, the COVID-19 pandemic has raised the risks of health care work. Drawing on more than 10 years of nursing experience, the quality and safety manager ensures that measures to curb infection are strictly observed.

“We want to cause no harm to the patients while giving them care. We also want to ensure that our staff are safe in their working environment,” she says.

A backpack containing simple but essential medicines and supplies is all Antoinette Nuselie Segla, principal community health nurse, needs to embark on a health outreach in Fadama, a populous community in the north of Ghana’s capital, Accra.

By the time the public health officials reached a Maasai community not far from Nairobi, Julius Oloiboni had already mobilized everyone to protect themselves and others against COVID-19.

When health officials in Kano State noted that turnouts for Covid-19 testing were consistently low across communities, they grew worried. Many residents were unaware of how serious the Covid-19 disease was, and despite sensitization messages on the pandemic, some did not believe COVID-19 was real. How then, officials worried, would health workers be able to convince residents to submit themselves for testing so infected persons could be isolated and treated?

Hauwa Ibrahim is unsure when she will see her family again. Two months ago, the 29-year-old nurse volunteered to work at a COVID-19 treatment centre in Nigeria’s capital Abuja. Worried she might put her family at risk of catching the virus, she opted to stay at the centre. Like her, many health workers lending a hand to the country’s battle against the pandemic have forgone time with family.

Dr Fiona Braka holds one of the highest-stake roles in the African regional polio programme – supporting the Government of Nigeria in their fight to defeat wild poliovirus. She is the first woman to hold her position in Nigeria, and before that was the first female polio team lead in Ethiopia.