Abstract
Health system quality in the time of COVID-19
Highlights
As low-income countries in sub-Saharan Africa respond to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), underlying health system quality must be carefully considered and included in the design and delivery of services
What works in high-income settings might not translate to low-income countries if the quality of health care at baseline is poor and, steady and impressive progress on quality has been made in some low-income countries,[1] concerning gaps remain
As COVID-19 cases rise in sub-Saharan Africa, Powell-Jackson and colleagues’ analysis is a clarion call to urgently attend to the basic quality of services provided in the health system
Summary
As low-income countries in sub-Saharan Africa respond to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), underlying health system quality must be carefully considered and included in the design and delivery of services. Studies show that providers in these contexts often perform less than half of the most basic elements of a high-quality visit; equipment and supplies continue to be a challenge; and clinical outcomes directly amenable to high-quality care, such as early neonatal mortality, continue to be poor.[2,3] In The Lancet Global Health, Timothy Powell-Jackson and colleagues[4] make an important contribution to this growing literature on the quality of care and, document troubling shortcomings, this time for provider infection prevention and control behaviours.
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