South African medical journal = Suid-Afrikaanse tydskrif vir geneeskunde
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The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted cancer diagnostic services. A decline in the number of new cancers being diagnosed over a relatively short term implies a delay in diagnosis and subsequent treatment. This delay is expected to have a negative effect on cancerrelated morbidity and mortality. The impact of the pandemic on the number of new cancer diagnoses in our setting is unknown. ⋯ The first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic and the associated response resulted in a substantial decline in the number of new cancer diagnoses, implying a delay in diagnosis. Cancer-related morbidity and mortality is expected to rise as a result, with the greatest increase in mortality expected from breast and colorectal cancer.
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Multicenter Study
Estimating the surgical backlog from the COVID-19 lockdown in South Africa: A retrospective analysis of six government hospitals.
The COVID-19 pandemic reached South Africa (SA) in March 2020. A national lockdown began on 27 March 2020, and health facilities reduced non-essential activity, including many surgical services. ⋯ The COVID-19 pandemic has created large backlogs of elective operations that will need to be addressed urgently. Clear and structured guidelines need to be developed in order to streamline the reintroduction of full surgical healthcare services as SA slowly recovers from this unprecedented pandemic.
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COVID-19 vaccination has been globally accepted as a critical public health response measure to prevent severe disease and death, alleviate strain on healthcare systems, and prevent onward transmission of SARS-CoV-2. The South African Department of Health's plan to vaccinate 1.25 million healthcare workers through the Sisonke Early Access Vaccine Rollout for Healthcare Workers presented both opportunities and challenges in terms of designing and implementing a mass vaccination roll-out in the resource-limited state sector. We present our experiences and challenges from the largest hospital in Africa, and hope that this will assist other institutions with planning successful COVID-19 mass vaccination campaigns.