Umma Staff Publications

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    Hesistancy to Covid-19 Vaccine Uptake in Sub-Saharan Africa: a Systematic Review
    (Journal of Clinical Epidemiology and Public Health, 2025-05-28) Ndukui J. Gakunga; Ishmael Makumi; Fatuma Affey
    Abstract Background Information: COVID-19 vaccine coverage in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is behind the rest of the world, given that the region is home to nearly 1.2 billion people which contribute to 15% of the global popula- tion. The hesitance to the COVID-19 vaccine in SSA has posed a great challenge to the public health. Therefore, achieving high levels of COVID-19 vaccination in SSA is paramount to containing the pandemic globally. There- fore, this systemic review was carried out to synthesize existing literature on key factors that derailed the uptake of COVID-19 vaccine in Sub-Saharan Africa. Materials and Methods: The study searched and accessed articles from open- research journal through the fol- lowing databases; Pub-med, Research gate, Scopus, Google Scholar, Academia, and African Index Medicus for studies published from May 1, 2020, to April, 2025, examining hesitancy towards uptake of the COVID-19 vaccine in Sub-Saharan Africa. Results: A total of 30 articles met the eligibility criteria and were included in this review. Majority of the studies included in this review were from pubmed, google scholar and Scopus. The reviewed research studies were from Ethipopia, Botswana, Cameroun, Cote D’Ivoire, DR Congo, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, Mozambique, Nigeria, So- malia, South Africa, Sudan, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. The major reasons for vaccine hesitancy were; vaccine safety, cultural beliefs and side effects, lack of trust for pharmaceutical industries and misinformation or conflicting information from the media. Factors associated with positive attitudes towards the vaccine included being male, having a higher level of education, and fear of contracting the virus. Conclusion: The review found that there is a combination of misinformation, cultural beliefs, public trust, and concerns on vaccine safety and efficacy as key drivers to hesitancy to COVID-19 vaccine uptake in SSA. Therefore, there is the need for context-specific interventions through tailored communication with culturally and linguistic acceptance among the target population.
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    Unveiling the hidden battle: Impact of Charlson comorbidities index on critical illness rate and mortality among hospitalized COVID-19 patients, comparing vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals in Kenya: A retrospective study
    (African Journal of Medical and Health Sciences, 2024-01) Isinta, M. Elijah; Kitagwa, W.; Halake, Dabo G; Wang, Youxin
    Fatal outcomes were observed in hospitalized COVID-19 patients, particularly among those who were unvaccinated and had comorbidities. Robust research is needed to validate these findings in both vaccinated and unvaccinated groups. The study, involving 1792 COVID-19 patients, explored the links between comorbidities and fatal outcomes. This single-center retrospective cohort study employed Cox proportional hazard regression to analyze the impact of comorbidities on COVID-19 fatalities, adjusting for age, sex, smoking and vaccination status. Males experienced severe illness (75%) or mortality (76.8%). Notably, most people admitted to the ICU were over 31 years old (96.2%), with individuals over 60 years old facing the highest fatality rate (61.6%). The proportion of ICU admissions increased with the Charlson Comorbidities Index (CCI), with CCI 1-3 at 51.0% and CCI >4 at 52.6%. Mortality linked to CCI was 55.4% for CCI 1-3 and 52.6% for CCI >4. The risk of ICU admission and mortality both increased with higher CCIs. Common comorbidities such as obesity, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, chronic liver disease, chronic pulmonary obstructive disease, cancer/malignancy, chronic kidney disease and hypertension predicted critical illness and mortality among COVID-19 patients. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC-ROC) for predicting critical illness was 0.90 (95% CI: 0.89-0.93), and for mortality, it was 0.90 (95% CI: 0.88-0.91). Additional factors, such as HIV and rheumatoid arthritis, independently predicted critical illness and mortality. The risk of critical illness and mortality showed an increase with the Charlson Comorbidities Index, both among vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals