SARS-CoV-2 diagnostic testing in Africa: needs and challenges

Abstract

Novel Coronavirus (also called COVID-19, or 2019-nCoV, or SARS-CoV-2) is an unprecedented pandemic. As depicted by the upsurge of the number of SARS-CoV-2 cases and the rapid geographical expansion of the virus, it is evident that it is truly a global health threat and Africa is not an exception to this threat. As of March 31 2020, 5, 287 SARS-CoV-2 cases and 172 deaths have been reported in 48 African nations. However, underreporting of numbers of cases may be due to diagnostic insufficiency, low testing capacity and most of all the fragile healthcare system on the continent. This letter emphasizes the needs and challenges of SARS-CoV-2 diagnostic testing in Africa. Globally, SARS-CoV-2 diagnostic testing is a challenge. However, the low testing in Africa is a further challenge as the healthcare capacity and human resources for health are limited to respond adequately to high caseload. The early-stage asymptomatic characteristic of the virus has enabled silent transmission which is a further concern to identify and test those infected. In lieu of this, there is a need for targeted large-scale testing and this can only be achieved through a more rapid, accurate and affordable diagnostic testing approach and scaling up laboratory testing capacity. However, laboratory testing is not without challenges as African nations have limited well-equipped laboratories that can cater for its population. The dearth of clinical laboratory scientists on the continent is also another challenge that is likely to contribute to the diagnostic insufficiency. This further reinforces the need for rapid diagnostic testing and the need to develop laboratory capacity and its human resources in Africa.

Rights

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution International 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Cite as

Downloadable citations

Identifiers

DOI

https://doi.org/10.11604/pamj.supp.2020.35.2.22703

Repository URI

https://eprints.gla.ac.uk/327512/