Covid-19 ICU mortality rates falling drastically since start of pandemic – STUDY

The chance of surviving Covid

-19 infection after falling critically ill has risen significantly since the start of the pandemic, a new research suggests.

Analysis by the University of Bristol shows the proportion of patients dying from the infectious disease in the ICU has reduced by a third since March.

Scientists reviewed more than 20 studies from around the world which involved 10,000 volunteers, and they say the finding shows doctors are getting better at treating the disease, which is still poorly understood after more than six months of the outbreak. 

It is hoped that survival rates will improve further still after Dexamethasone, a steroid, became the first drug scientifically proven to treat severe Covid infection. 

The drug was found to reduce the risk of death in patients on ventilation by as much as 35 per cent and patients on oxygen by 20 percent. 

A small number of scientists believe the virus is actually weakening and patients are now surviving infections that would have killed them before.

Viruses are known to change over time because they are subject to random genetic mutations as the infection tries to gain an evolutionary advantage.

If a virus becomes less dangerous to its host - that is, it causes fewer symptoms or less death - it may find that it is able to live longer and reproduce more. 

The family of viruses which cause the common cold are one example of infections that have weakened over thousands of years. But there is no concrete evidence this is happening with COVID-19 yet. 

The new study, published in the journal Anaesthesis, examined 24 studies conducted in Europe, Asia and North America involving 10,150 ICU patients.

The analysis suggests the death rate has dropped from 59.5 per cent at the end of March to 42 per cent at the end of May - a relative decrease of almost a third. 

ICU mortality did not differ significantly across continents despite some variations in admission criteria and treatments delivered, the study observed.   

NBS reveals how COVID-19 impacts negatively on employment, livelihood of Nigerians

Despite the share of people in gainful employment rising substantially since the lifting of the COVID-19 lockdown in Nigeria, many Nigerians are yet to regain full employment even as the food security situation in the country has substantially worsened since the beginning of the pandemic, a survey by the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, has revealed.

Worse still, there has not been any significant improvement in safety nets or other sources of income assistance from institutions and/or remittances since the beginning of the pandemic.

These are among the findings of the 2^nd round Nigeria COVID-19 National Longitudinal Phone Survey, COVID-19 NLPS, 2020, implemented by the NBS in June 2020 with support from the World. Bank.

The survey was conducted between June 2-16, 2020 among a sample of 1,950 households after some of the lockdown restrictions on movement had been lifted, to monitor the economic impact of the pandemic and other shocks on the country.

According to the survey, between April/May and June, the share of respondents who were working increased in both urban and rural areas, but the loss of work since the start of the outbreak continues to be larger for urban dwellers.

“While around 75 percent of rural respondents were working in June, 64 percent of urban respondents were working. Nevertheless, the recovery in the share of respondents who were working has been more pronounced in urban areas, although, in part, this is because the initial drop in the share of respondents who were working was larger for urban dwellers,” the report stated.

Noting that the share of people working has risen substantially since the beginning of May 2020, the survey observed: “In April/May 2020, just 43 percent of respondents reported that they were working, meaning that about half of those respondents who were working before the start of the COVID-19 outbreak had stopped working.

“Yet, in June 2020, around 71 percent of respondents reported that they were working, indicating that the share of respondents working recovered substantially as the lockdown restrictions were eased in May. Nevertheless, the share of respondents who were working in June was still lower than prior to the outbreak, indicating that the pandemic continues to limit individuals’ work opportunities.”

According to the survey, the commerce and services sectors – those hardest hit by the COVID-19 crisis – experienced among the largest recoveries in the share of respondents who were working, while many of those returning to work engaged in agriculture.

Of the 57 percent of respondents who were not working in April/May, a little under 60 percent had returned to work by June, while around 40 percent were still not working. Many of those returning to work (23 percent) of those who were not working in April/May) started or resumed work in the agricultural sector. Yet relatively large shares of respondents who were not working in April/May reported working in commerce (17 percent) and services (15 percent) in June.

On the issue of food security and safety nets, the NBS survey revealed that the food security situation in Nigeria has substantially worsened since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to the survey, about 30 percent of households interviewed in June experienced severe food insecurity due to a lack of money or other resources. The incidence of severe food insecurity in June 2020 was nearly three times higher than in July/August 2018 and nearly six times higher than in January/February 2019. Moreover, 77 percent of households interviewed in June reported moderate or severe food insecurity.

“There has not been any significant improvement in safety nets or other sources of income assistance from institutions and/or remittances. 

In June, there was virtually no change in the provision of safety nets; 13 percent of households received food assistance, while 2 percent of households reported having received a direct cash transfer. Informal mechanisms of support from friends and family seem to be affected by the share of households receiving remittances from within Nigeria decreasing from 22 percent in April/May to 18 percent in June.

Amid COVID-19, SFH, Oyo State address adolescents’ sexual, reproductive health needs

Adolescents were under pressure to determine their sexual reproductive health during the COVID-19 lockdown. 

Among challenges faced by adolescent girls in Nigeria today is their lack of economic empowerment which increases their vulnerability of to rape, sexual exploitation and abuse, and often leads to unintended pregnancy and unsafe abortion.

As technology and the internet are shifting how adolescents and young people learn about sex, adolescents often have to piece together their own sexual education, or ‘consult’ their peers, making them vulnerable to misinformation and misadventure.

Worse still, the lack of economic empowerment is a leading cause of unintended pregnancies among adolescents. Coupled with the impact of the COVID-19 lockdown, the sexual and reproductive health issues of adolescents in Oyo State was significant. 

Towards mitigating this impact, the Oyo State government put in place measures that enabled targeted interventions.

As part of the outcome of these interventions, no less than 2,977 adolescent girls were able to access various types of contraceptives during the lockdown in the State even as 4,106 adolescent girls accessed facilities for sexual reproductive health services while 151 were treated for Sexually Transmitted Infections over the same period.  

Disclosing this during a media roundtable,  the Executive Secretary of the Oyo State Primary Health Care Board, OYSPHCB, Dr Muhideen B. Olatunji, said as a result of the targeted adolescent reproductive health intervention, a total of 13,571 adolescents were reached with sexual reproductive health information in the State in the last five months.

According to Olatunji, who spoke during the roundtable organised by the  OYSPHCB, in collaboration with the Oyo State COVID-19 Task Force, with strategic support from the Society for Family Health, SFH: “Despite the rise in COVID 19 pandemic in Oyo State and Nigeria as a whole,  the demand for basic needs of life and health services were not constant but increased. Lockdown does not lock sexual activities and its attendant effects among the young and old.”

Olatunji said the Board remained undaunted in  increasing services to ensure the quality of lives of young population in Oyo State through their existing facilities and networks 

“Despite the rise in confirmed COVID-19 cases during the lockdown, the demand for basic needs of life and health services increased in Oyo State. 

The lockdown did not lock down sexual activities and its attendant effects among the young and old,” he remarked, noting that the state primary healthcare board was poised to increase services to ensure the quality of lives of young population in Oyo State through existing facilities and networks. 

At the roundtable themed: “Meeting Adolescents and Young People’s Sexual Reproductive Health Needs during COVID-19”,  the Regional Manager A360 Project, Mr. Tunde Ogungbenro, lamented the plight of adolescent girls.

“Girls who seek sexual health care face a lot of stigma. They are perceived as promiscuous, so they would rather hide.” 

Oyo State Commissioner for Women Affairs, Alhaja  Faosat Sanni with the
Incident Manager, Oyo State COVID-19 Emergency Operations Centre,
Dr Taiwo Ladipo, during the media roundtable  held in Ibadan last week

 He said the A360 project is revolutionising how adolescent girls access sexual reproductive health services by providing appropriate platforms to impart skills for life, love, health and knowledge through network of youth-friendly services.

According to  Olatunji, the A360 project in Oyo State commenced intervention in September 2017 in Ibadan North East and Akinyele LGAs.

“It is a four-year project co-funded by Children Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF) and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation implemented in Tanzania, Nigeria and Ethiopia,designed to meet the sexual and reproductive health needs of adolescent girls aged 15-19 using human-centred design and youth engagement approach.

Currently, the A360 Project in Oyo State has so far mobilised 151,939 girls, referred 86,153 and redeemed 81,224. Since inception, 32,270 girls reached with contraceptive uptake in the State while 834 have been managed for STIs and 122 were pregnant.  

Lamenting the lack of strong structures and systems addressing sexual violence in the country, state and community,  he said adolescent's first point of contact in discussing  sexual and reproductive health issues should be their parents. 

Giving an update on the COVID-19 situation for March - July 2020, the Incident Manager, Oyo State COVID-19 Emergency Operations Centre, Dr Taiwo Ladipo, observed the general poor perception of risk by the public. He decried challenges such as the poor compliance with self-isolation guidelines, cases on home isolation,contacts of confirmed cases and poor turnaround time in the lab, amongst others. 

There was a general call on the State Government to scale up and prioritise protecting and improving Adolescent girls’ sexual and reproductive health, to mitigate some of the barriers adolescents face on their journeys, and empower them to work towards their envisioned future.