A new report has shown that children and adolescents in Sub Saharan Africa hospitalised with COVID-19 experience higher mortality rates than their counterparts in the United States of America and Europe.
It also shows that infants younger than one year had nearly five times the risk of death than adolescents aged 15 to 19 years. The report shows that 18 participants had suspected or confirmed multisystem inflammatory syndrome, a serious complication of COVID-19 where different parts of the body become inflamed. About four of the children died from this complication, the study indicates.
The study, which included investigators across all six of the African countries that provided data, found that 34.6 per cent of hospitalised children were admitted to an intensive care unit or required supplemental oxygen, and 21.2 per cent of those admitted to the ICU required invasive mechanical ventilation.Mr Nachega said the high morbidity and mortality associated with hospitalised children with COVID-19 challenge the existing understanding of the virus as a mild disease in this population.
He said this also raises further, the acute need for capacity-building and support for pediatric intensive care in these settings.In a statement issued late Friday, IHVN’s Senior Technical Advisor for Paediatric and Adolescent HIV and first co-author of the publication, Sam Agudu, said the findings serve as evidence from multiple countries to show that African children also experience severe COVID-19.
Nigeria Latest News, Nigeria Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.