A perspective on Nigeria's preparedness, response and challenges to mitigating the spread of COVID-19
Date
2020-09-21
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
MDPI
Abstract
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a novel disease pandemic that emerged in late
2019 in China, and later spread to other parts of the world, including Nigeria. This review analyzes
the preparedness of Nigeria to the COVID-19 pandemic and recommends strategies that could be
useful in controlling the disease. Published articles on COVID-19 worldwide, socioeconomic and
disease status and preparedness to COVID-19 in Africa and Nigeria, were retrieved from databases
such as Pubmed, MEDLINE, Scopus, Web of Knowledge and Google search engine. Nigeria is the
most populous black nation in the world, and is one of the largest crude oil producers in the world.
However, its healthcare system is dilapidated and weak, due to years of neglect and widespread
corruption. As a result, Nigeria is vulnerable to COVID-19, as evidenced by the current geographical
distribution of the disease in its population. Many socioeconomic factors could potentially facilitate
the spread of COVID-19 in Nigeria. This could lead to a high caseload in the country, which could
overwhelm the health care system. The application of social distancing, personal hygiene, especially
hand hygiene and mask-wearing, as practiced in many countries, has proven to be effective to reduce
the spread of COVID-19. In Nigeria, social distancing, in many instances, may be impracticable,
given its large population, and a high density of people living in crowded conditions like slums and
camps. Moreover, there is a sizeable population of internally displaced people, due to the attack by
Boko Haram fighters in Northern Nigeria, and herdsmen in Southern Nigeria. The implementation of
these measures is likely to be a great challenge. Nigeria has announced a complete lockdown for the
containment of COVD-19, but its implementation and efficacy are doubtful, due to the same reasons
previously mentioned.
Description
CITATION: Anyanwu, M. U. et al. 2020. A perspective on Nigeria's preparedness, response and challenges to mitigating the spread of COVID-19. Challenges, 11(2):22, doi:10.3390/challe11020022.
The original publication is available at https://www.mdpi.com
The original publication is available at https://www.mdpi.com
Keywords
COVID-19 (Disease) -- Government policy -- Nigeria, Emergency management -- Nigeria, Preparedness -- Nigeria
Citation
Anyanwu, M. U. et al. 2020. A perspective on Nigeria's preparedness, response and challenges to mitigating the spread of COVID-19. Challenges, 11(2):22, doi:10.3390/challe11020022.