Abstract
BackgroundEbola outbreaks pose a major threat to global public health, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa. These outbreaks disrupt the already fragile maternal health services in West Africa. The aims of this study is to assess the effect of Ebola virus disease (EVD) on maternal health service utilisation and perinatal outcomes.MethodsThis systematic review was conducted in West Africa, and the databases used were Medline, PubMed, CINAHL, Scopus, EMBASE and African journals online. Studies that reported the effect of the Ebola outbreak on maternal health services in West Africa were eligible for this systematic review. The search was limited to articles written in the English language only and published between 2013 and 2020. Three authors independently appraised the articles, and the data were extracted using a standardised data extraction format. The findings were synthesised using a narrative summary, tables, and figures.ResultsTwelve studies met the inclusion criteria and were used for this systematic review synthesis. The results showed that antenatal care significantly decreased during Ebola virus disease and strove to recover post-Ebola virus disease. Women were less likely to have institutional childbirth during Ebola virus disease and struggled to recover post-Ebola virus disease. In addition, this review revealed a substantially higher rate of maternal mortality post EVD than those observed before or during the outbreak.ConclusionBased on our findings, antenatal care, institutional childbirth, and postnatal care are attempting to recover post-Ebola virus disease. We recommended that responsible bodies and stakeholders need to prepare locally tailored interventions to increase the number of women attending ANC, institutional childbirth, and PNC services post-EVD and future outbreaks including COVID-19. In order to build trust, creating community networks between health care providers and trusted community leaders may increase the number of women attending antenatal care (ANC), institutional childbirth and postnatal care (PNC) post-EVD and during future outbreaks. Further studies are needed to examine health centre and hospital availability and accessibility, and capacity to deliver maternal health services post-Ebola virus disease and future outbreaks.
Highlights
Ebola outbreaks pose a major threat to global public health, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa
The results showed that antenatal care significantly decreased during the Ebola virus outbreak and strove to recover post-Ebola virus disease
Responsible bodies and stakeholders need to prepare locally tailored interventions to increase the number of women attending antenatal care (ANC), institutional childbirth, and postnatal care (PNC) services post-Ebola virus disease (EVD) and future outbreaks
Summary
Ebola outbreaks pose a major threat to global public health, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa. These outbreaks disrupt the already fragile maternal health services in West Africa. Ebola virus disease (EVD) is a serious public health concern affecting the health of humans and other primates [1]. EVD is a virulent and extremely contagious viral haemorrhagic fever (VHF) [7], and its mode of transmission from person to person is via direct contact of the skin or mucous membranes with infected bodily fluids [1, 8, 9] It was first discovered in 1976 in Zaire [10]. The 2014 Ebola outbreak posed a major threat to global public health, especially in West Africa. From 2013 to 2016, 28,616 people had contracted EVD, and 11,310 people had died due to the Ebola virus disease in West Africa [13]
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