Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33282063›Full record

ArticleThe Pan African medical journal2020

'Any and every cure for COVID-19': an imminent epidemic of alternative remedies amidst the pandemic?

Ejemai Amaize Eboreime, Chinwe Juliana Iwu, Aduragbemi Banke-Thomas

Open access · greenAbstract readLetter
In one paragraph

Article in The Pan African medical journal, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
5citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

5 citing papers in PubMed, 6 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Article
  5. Perspective Toward Complementary & Alternative Medicines in the Prevention of COVID-19 Infection.Indian journal of community medicine : official publication of Indian Association of Preventive & Social Medicine
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.

Ejemai Amaize EboreimeDepartment of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada.
Chinwe Juliana IwuDepartment of Nursing and Midwifery, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Stellenbosch University, Cape Town, South Africa.
Aduragbemi Banke-ThomasDepartment of Health Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, London, United Kingdom.
London School of Economics and Political Science · GBStellenbosch University · ZAUniversity of Alberta · CA

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The magnitude of the COVID-19 pandemic is unprecedented, causing lots of apprehension among scientists, industry actors, politicians, and the general populace. Adverse health, social and economic effects of the pandemic have triggered an urgency among policy makers to seek an effective panacea. In this commentary, we examine the covert outbreak of a demand for alternative remedies with limited scientific evidence on their effectiveness to manage COVID-19 in Africa. Similar demands have been displayed in previous epidemics, though the ubiquity of social media in this current clime fuels such demands even more. We describe the attendant consequences of this demand surge on ongoing public health efforts to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 and highlight its future repercussions which may continue to plague health systems beyond the present outbreak. Going forward, governments must be proactive in surveillance of this covert epidemic, actively engage community influencers in knowledge transfer and implement targeted health promotion interventions.

Indexed as

Complementary TherapiesSARS-CoV-2AfricaCOVID-19HumansPandemicsAfricaalternative medicineCOVID-19epidemichealth promotion

Identifiers

PMID33282063
PMCPMC7687461
OpenAlexW3041589350

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.