Birhanu Ayenew

Impact of COVID-19 on Ethiopia, East Africa Birhanu Ayenew

The COVID-19 pandemic is the global public health emergency concern and had an impact on the day to day life of individuals. Currently, Ethiopia has a very low health care workforce (Medical Doctors, Health Officers, Nurses, and Midwives) density of about 0.96/1000 population, which is 5 times less than the minimum threshold of 4.45 per 1000 population set by the World Health Organization (WHO). Mass use of public transportation, shortage of sanitation material including water, hiding suspected cases, lack of personal protective equipment for health care providers, presence of immune-compromised people are among the major driving factors making Ethiopia one of the challenged developing country in facing this unprecedented COVID-19 spread. In this scenario, this book summarizes the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on individuals living in communities, highlighting the challenges and opportunities' to tackle COVID-19 spread in Ethiopia, East Africa.