Covid-19 and orthodox healthcare facilities and professionals in Lagos State, Nigeria: Challenges and lessons for the future

Abstract

Coronavirus is a viral infection that has spread across the globe at an alarming rate. The cases were worsened by the limited epidemiological knowledge about the disease and initial lack of vaccination. This research assessed the scourge of COVID-19 in the context of Nigeria’s orthodox healthcare facilities and professionals, the challenges and lessons for the future using the International-Health-Regulations (IHR) Preparedness-framework. The assessment involved gauging the performance of selected indexes namely detect, report, respond, enabling-function, and operational-readiness of Lagos-State healthcare facilities. The IHR for State Party self-assessment annual reporting (IHR-SPAR) tool was adapted into a questionnaire via Google-form and the link generated was shared on the WhatsApp-platform of the healthcare-workers of randomly selected healthcare facilities in the three Senatorial-Districts of the State. 210 respondents were targeted for COVID-19 related information but only 157 responded. The data obtained were processed using Arithmetic-mean as suggested by the adopted methodology.  Findings showed that Lagos-State has a level-3 capacity across the five-indexes which include detect-capacity (41.94%), report-capacity (45.41%), respond-capacity (45.77%), enabling-function (45.99%) and operational-readiness (44.78%). Findings also revealed that some of the challenges encountered in managing COVID-19 are perennial, thus, the research recommends that decision making during emergencies should be based on important demographics and that specific indicators require revamping to bring the needed improvement to the sector.