For Publishers
DiscoveryMetadataPeer reviewHostingPublishing
For Researchers
JoinPublishReviewCollect
Register
Blog
About
Search
Advanced search
My ScienceOpen
Search
For Publishers
For Researchers
Blog
About
4
views
56
references
 Top references
cited by
1
    
0 reviews
 Review
0
comments
 Comment
0
recommends
+1 Recommend
2 collections
    0
    shares
      592
      similar
       All similar
      • Record: found
      • Abstract: found
      • Article: found
      Is Open Access

      Preparing for future outbreaks in Ghana: An overview of current COVID-19, monkeypox, and Marburg disease outbreaks

      review-article

      Read this article at

      ScienceOpenPublisherPMC
      Bookmark
          There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.

          Abstract

          Amidst the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Ghana is currently grappling with simultaneous outbreaks of Marburg virus disease and human monkeypox virus. The coexistence of these outbreaks emphasizes the imperative for a collaborative and global approach to enhance surveillance and expedite case detection. While Ghana has made efforts to respond to these outbreaks, this paper outlines the lessons learned and proposes recommendations in this regard. It is crucial to intensify response efforts at the local, regional, and national levels to effectively contain the spread of these infectious diseases. Therefore, this paper suggests prioritizing the following recommendations as crucial for assisting Ghana in adequately preparing for future outbreaks and safeguarding global public health: strengthening surveillance system through digitization, rapid and effective response; risk communication and community engagement; healthcare system readiness; and research and collaboration. Also, prioritizing building healthy public policies and developing personal skills of health personnel across the country is key for future outbreak response.

          Related collections

          Most cited references56

          • Record: found
          • Abstract: found
          • Article: found
          Is Open Access

          The changing epidemiology of human monkeypox—A potential threat? A systematic review

          Eveline M Bunge, Bernard Hoet, Liddy Chen … (2022)
          Monkeypox, a zoonotic disease caused by an orthopoxvirus, results in a smallpox-like disease in humans. Since monkeypox in humans was initially diagnosed in 1970 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), it has spread to other regions of Africa (primarily West and Central), and cases outside Africa have emerged in recent years. We conducted a systematic review of peer-reviewed and grey literature on how monkeypox epidemiology has evolved, with particular emphasis on the number of confirmed, probable, and/or possible cases, age at presentation, mortality, and geographical spread. The review is registered with PROSPERO (CRD42020208269). We identified 48 peer-reviewed articles and 18 grey literature sources for data extraction. The number of human monkeypox cases has been on the rise since the 1970s, with the most dramatic increases occurring in the DRC. The median age at presentation has increased from 4 (1970s) to 21 years (2010–2019). There was an overall case fatality rate of 8.7%, with a significant difference between clades—Central African 10.6% (95% CI: 8.4%– 13.3%) vs. West African 3.6% (95% CI: 1.7%– 6.8%). Since 2003, import- and travel-related spread outside of Africa has occasionally resulted in outbreaks. Interactions/activities with infected animals or individuals are risk behaviors associated with acquiring monkeypox. Our review shows an escalation of monkeypox cases, especially in the highly endemic DRC, a spread to other countries, and a growing median age from young children to young adults. These findings may be related to the cessation of smallpox vaccination, which provided some cross-protection against monkeypox, leading to increased human-to-human transmission. The appearance of outbreaks beyond Africa highlights the global relevance of the disease. Increased surveillance and detection of monkeypox cases are essential tools for understanding the continuously changing epidemiology of this resurging disease.
          Article 0 comments Cited 588 times – based on 0 reviews     Review now
            Bookmark
            • Record: found
            • Abstract: found
            • Article: not found

            Impact of delays on effectiveness of contact tracing strategies for COVID-19: a modelling study

            Mirjam E. Kretzschmar, Ganna Rozhnova, Martin Bootsma … (2020)
            Summary Background In countries with declining numbers of confirmed cases of COVID-19, lockdown measures are gradually being lifted. However, even if most physical distancing measures are continued, other public health measures will be needed to control the epidemic. Contact tracing via conventional methods or mobile app technology is central to control strategies during de-escalation of physical distancing. We aimed to identify key factors for a contact tracing strategy to be successful. Methods We evaluated the impact of timeliness and completeness in various steps of a contact tracing strategy using a stochastic mathematical model with explicit time delays between time of infection and symptom onset, and between symptom onset, diagnosis by testing, and isolation (testing delay). The model also includes tracing of close contacts (eg, household members) and casual contacts, followed by testing regardless of symptoms and isolation if testing positive, with different tracing delays and coverages. We computed effective reproduction numbers of a contact tracing strategy (R CTS) for a population with physical distancing measures and various scenarios for isolation of index cases and tracing and quarantine of their contacts. Findings For the most optimistic scenario (testing and tracing delays of 0 days and tracing coverage of 100%), and assuming that around 40% of transmissions occur before symptom onset, the model predicts that the estimated effective reproduction number of 1·2 (with physical distancing only) will be reduced to 0·8 (95% CI 0·7–0·9) by adding contact tracing. The model also shows that a similar reduction can be achieved when testing and tracing coverage is reduced to 80% (R CTS 0·8, 95% CI 0·7–1·0). A testing delay of more than 1 day requires the tracing delay to be at most 1 day or tracing coverage to be at least 80% to keep R CTS below 1. With a testing delay of 3 days or longer, even the most efficient strategy cannot reach R CTS values below 1. The effect of minimising tracing delay (eg, with app-based technology) declines with decreasing coverage of app use, but app-based tracing alone remains more effective than conventional tracing alone even with 20% coverage, reducing the reproduction number by 17·6% compared with 2·5%. The proportion of onward transmissions per index case that can be prevented depends on testing and tracing delays, and given a 0-day tracing delay, ranges from up to 79·9% with a 0-day testing delay to 41·8% with a 3-day testing delay and 4·9% with a 7-day testing delay. Interpretation In our model, minimising testing delay had the largest impact on reducing onward transmissions. Optimising testing and tracing coverage and minimising tracing delays, for instance with app-based technology, further enhanced contact tracing effectiveness, with the potential to prevent up to 80% of all transmissions. Access to testing should therefore be optimised, and mobile app technology might reduce delays in the contact tracing process and optimise contact tracing coverage. Funding ZonMw, Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, and EU Horizon 2020 RECOVER.
            Article 0 comments Cited 365 times – based on 0 reviews     Review now
              Bookmark
              • Record: found
              • Abstract: found
              • Article: not found

              Health systems resilience in managing the COVID-19 pandemic: lessons from 28 countries

              Victoria Haldane, Chuan De Foo, Salma M Abdalla … (2021)
              Health systems resilience is key to learning lessons from country responses to crises such as coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). In this perspective, we review COVID-19 responses in 28 countries using a new health systems resilience framework. Through a combination of literature review, national government submissions and interviews with experts, we conducted a comparative analysis of national responses. We report on domains addressing governance and financing, health workforce, medical products and technologies, public health functions, health service delivery and community engagement to prevent and mitigate the spread of COVID-19. We then synthesize four salient elements that underlie highly effective national responses and offer recommendations toward strengthening health systems resilience globally.
              Article 0 comments Cited 347 times – based on 0 reviews     Review now
                Bookmark
                All references

                Author and article information

                Contributors
                Isaac Owusu:
                ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5204-1339
                Role: ConceptualizationRole: InvestigationRole: MethodologyRole: Project administrationRole: ResourcesRole: SupervisionRole: Writing – original draftRole: Writing – review & editing
                Collins Adu: Role: ConceptualizationRole: InvestigationRole: MethodologyRole: Project administrationRole: Writing – original draftRole: Writing – review & editing
                Richard Gyan Aboagye: Role: Writing – original draftRole: Writing – review & editing
                Rebecca Ann Mpangah: Role: InvestigationRole: Project administration
                Gideon K. Acheampong: Role: InvestigationRole: ResourcesRole: Supervision
                Ernest Akyereko: Role: InvestigationRole: ResourcesRole: Supervision
                Emmanuel Osei Bonsu: Role: MethodologyRole: Project administration
                Prince Peprah: Role: SupervisionRole: Writing – original draftRole: Writing – review & editing
                Journal
                Journal ID (nlm-ta): Health Promot Perspect
                Journal ID (iso-abbrev): Health Promot Perspect
                Journal ID (publisher-id): Health Promot Perspect
                Journal ID (publisher-id): TBZMED
                Title: Health Promotion Perspectives
                Publisher: Tabriz University of Medical Sciences
                ISSN (Electronic): 2228-6497
                Publication date Collection: 2023
                Publication date (Electronic): 11 September 2023
                Volume: 13
                Issue: 3
                Pages: 202-211
                Affiliations
                1Ghana Health Service, Headquarters, Accra, Ghana
                2College of Public Health, Medical and Veterinary Sciences, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland 4811, Australia
                3Fred Newton Binka School of Public Health, University of Health, and Allied Sciences, Hohoe, Ghana
                4Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC), University of Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands
                5Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana
                6Centre for Primary Health Care and Equity/Social Policy Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
                Author notes
                [* ] Corresponding Author: Isaac Owusu, Email: iiowusu47@ 123456gmail.com
                Author information
                https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5204-1339
                Article
                DOI: 10.34172/hpp.2023.25
                PMC ID: 10558975
                PubMed ID: 37808942
                SO-VID: 04dad710-1b1f-4b5a-90ff-64b1ee19c64a
                Copyright © © 2023 The Author(s).
                License:

                This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

                History
                Date received : 13 June 2023
                Date accepted : 18 July 2023
                Page count
                Figures: 3, References: 84
                Categories
                Subject: Perspective

                Keywords: marburg virus,monkeypox virus,covid-19,ghana,outbreak response
                Data availability:
                Keywords: marburg virus, monkeypox virus, covid-19, ghana, outbreak response

                Comments

                Comment on this article