ArticleBMJ global health2021
Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and response on the utilisation of health services in public facilities during the first wave in Kinshasa, the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Article in BMJ global health, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 60 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
60 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 101 citations in OpenAlex.
- Impact of COVID-19 on Maternal Health Service Uptake and Perinatal Outcomes in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Systematic Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2024Pooled it
- Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on access to and delivery of maternal and child healthcare services in low-and middle-income countries: a systematic review of the literature.Frontiers in public health · 2024Pooled it
- Disruptions to routine childhood vaccinations in low- and middle-income countries during the COVID-19 pandemic: A systematic review.Frontiers in pediatrics · 2022Pooled it
- Improved water supply infrastructure to reduce acute diarrhoeal diseases and cholera in Uvira, Democratic Republic of the Congo: Results and lessons learned from a pragmatic trial.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2024Trial
- Human mobility and outbreak origins in epidemic spread: Insights from agent-based modeling.PLoS computational biology · 2026Article
- The perceived impacts of United States foreign development assistance reductions on health system building blocks at healthcare facilities in Zambia: A mixed-methods study.PLOS global public health · 2026Article
- Impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on tuberculosis patients' healthcare-seeking behaviors and doctors' diagnosis delays.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Attention to COVID 19 pandemic resulted in increased measles cases and deaths in Zambia.Tropical medicine and health · 2025Article
- Embedding risk monitoring in infectious disease surveillance for timely and effective outbreak prevention and control.BMJ global health · 2025Review
- "Resilience amidst challenges": Healthcare users' experiences of access and utilisation of primary healthcare services during the COVID-19 pandemic in southwestern Uganda.PLOS global public health · 2025Article
- Three-year impact of COVID-19 pandemic on hospitalized twin pregnancies: evaluation of characteristics and changes in antibiotic prescribing.Frontiers in medicine · 2025Article
- Impact of COVID-19 on the utilisation of maternal health services in Bangladesh: A division-level analysis.Journal of global health · 2024Article
- Unveiling the dimension of regional disparities: Assessing the disruption of immunisation services by COVID-19 in Bangladesh.Journal of global health · 2024Article
- The impact of COVID-19 on health service utilization in sub-Saharan Africa-a scoping review.BMC global and public health · 2024Article
- COVID-19 related disruption and resilience in immunisation activities in LMICs: a rapid review.BMJ open · 2024Review
- COVID-19 epidemiology, health services utilisation and health care seeking behaviour during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic in Mweso health zone, Democratic Republic of Congo.Journal of global health · 2024Article
- Maintaining essential health services during COVID-19 in Ghana: a qualitative study.BMJ global health · 2024Article
- Impact of Ebola and COVID-19 on maternal, neonatal, and child health care among populations affected by conflicts: a scoping review exploring demand and supply-side barriers and solutions.Conflict and health · 2024Article
- Impact of COVID-19 on essential healthcare services in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: Implications for future pandemics.PloS one · 2024Article
- Evaluating the impact of COVID-19 on routine childhood immunizations coverage in Zambia.PLOS global public health · 2024Article
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Authors and funding
10 authors at 7 institutions in 4 countries.
Funding
Abstract
introductionHealth service use among the public can decline during outbreaks and had been predicted among low and middle-income countries during the COVID-19 pandemic. In March 2020, the government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) started implementing public health measures across Kinshasa, including strict lockdown measures in the Gombe health zone.
methodsUsing monthly time series data from the DRC Health Management Information System (January 2018 to December 2020) and interrupted time series with mixed effects segmented Poisson regression models, we evaluated the impact of the pandemic on the use of essential health services (outpatient visits, maternal health, vaccinations, visits for common infectious diseases and non-communicable diseases) during the first wave of the pandemic in Kinshasa. Analyses were stratified by age, sex, health facility and lockdown policy (ie, Gombe vs other health zones).
resultsHealth service use dropped rapidly following the start of the pandemic and ranged from 16% for visits for hypertension to 39% for visits for diabetes. However, reductions were highly concentrated in Gombe (81% decline in outpatient visits) relative to other health zones. When the lockdown was lifted, total visits and visits for infectious diseases and non-communicable diseases increased approximately twofold. Hospitals were more affected than health centres. Overall, the use of maternal health services and vaccinations was not significantly affected.
conclusionThe COVID-19 pandemic resulted in important reductions in health service utilisation in Kinshasa, particularly Gombe. Lifting of lockdown led to a rebound in the level of health service use but it remained lower than prepandemic levels.
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