Pregnant women in Sub-Saharan Africa who are hospitalized with COVID-19 die at a far higher rate than pregnant women without COVID-19 and non-pregnant women with COVID-19, according to a recent multicenter study including six African nations. The study, led by a University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health irresistible infectious disease transmission specialist, was published today in Clinical Infectious Diseases.


COIVD-19 greatly increases risk of complications and death for pregnant people in sub-Saharan Africa
COIVD-19 greatly increases the risk of complications and death for pregnant people in sub-Saharan Africa


COVID-19's effects on pregnancy have been studied extensively in major league salary countries such as the United States, but the comparative size and extension studies in low- and middle-income countries and non-Western contexts are lacking. Pregnant women are at a greater risk of complications and death from COVID-19, according to the new findings, and should be targeted for COVID-19 vaccination with other high-risk populations in Sub-Saharan Africa.


"Our findings show that COVID-19-infected pregnant women in Sub-Saharan Africa have a two to three times higher risk of requiring intensive care and passing on than COVID-19-uninfected pregnant women," said lead author Jean B. Nachega, M.D., Ph.D., M.P.H., an academic partner of irresistible illnesses and microbial science and the study of disease transmission at Pitt Public Health. "We must concentrate our COVID-19 vaccination initiatives in Africa on pregnant women who are among the most vulnerable populations."


The massive study looked at the outcomes of over 1,300 female patients of childbearing age who were admitted to hospitals in one of six countries between March 2020 and March 2021: the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, and Uganda. This study looked at three groups of women: pregnant women with COVID-19, non-pregnant women with COVID-19, and pregnant women without COVID-19.


Experts discovered that in pregnant women with SARS-CoV-2, the rates of emergency unit confirmation and use of supplementary oxygen were at least two-overlay higher, and the death rate increased by five-fold.


Sub-Saharan Africa also has greater rates of tuberculosis (TB) and HIV than the United States, and disseminated COVID-19 tests among people with these long-term infections have yielded mixed results, so the researchers looked into the impact of these diseases on their study population. Both pregnant and non-pregnant women with HIV or a prior history of TB had a two-fold increased risk of ICU admission among the participants.


"The burden of TB and HIV contamination in Africa increases the risk of severe COVID-19 throughout pregnancy," stated co-author John W. Mellors, M.D., chief of Pitt's Division of Infectious Diseases. "This emphasizes the need for COVID-19 vaccination as a component of prenatal care."


Nachega, who splits his time between Pitt Public Health and a staff position at Stellenbosch University in South Africa, noted slow progress in expanding COVID-19 immunization supplies in Africa but emphasized that COVID-19 antibody skepticism and misinformation about general health management is a global problem, and Africa is no exception. Nachega and other scientists emphasized the need of focusing on COVID-19 vaccines for this population in a study released in conjunction with the review in improving mother and infant outcomes.


"Deception and disinformation propagated by internet entertainment and various stages, which misdirect general society regarding aftereffects, such as barrenness and possibly foetal harm, contribute to Coronavirus antibody reluctance and poor vaccine take-up in pregnancy," Nachega added. "We should try to stop the spread of misinformation as well as devote resources to promoting vaccination."


Individuals from the African Forum for Research and Education in Health COVID-19 Research Collaboration on COVID-19 and Pregnancy, who are included in the Clinical Infectious Diseases paper, are extra agents in this investigation.


The National Institutes of Health Fogarty International Center funding 1R25TW011217-01 supported this research.


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