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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Public Health
Sec. Public Health Education and Promotion
Volume 12 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1375221

The burden and treatment of noncommunicable diseases among healthcare workers in Sub-Saharan Africa: a multi-country cross-sectional study

Provisionally accepted
Sophie A. Müller Sophie A. Müller 1*Kelly Elimian Kelly Elimian 2,3Jean Florent Rafamatanantsoa Jean Florent Rafamatanantsoa 4Felix Reichert Felix Reichert 1Francis Mosala Francis Mosala 5Lena Böff Lena Böff 1Sounan Fidèle Touré Sounan Fidèle Touré 6Idesbald Boone Idesbald Boone 1Lantonirina Ravaoarisoa Lantonirina Ravaoarisoa 4Sagesse Nduenga Sagesse Nduenga 5Giuseppina Ortu Giuseppina Ortu 7Francisco Pozo-Martin Francisco Pozo-Martin 1Sara Tomczyk Sara Tomczyk 1Tim Eckmanns Tim Eckmanns 1Tochi Okwor Tochi Okwor 2Chantal Akoua-Koffi Chantal Akoua-Koffi 6Bamourou Diané Bamourou Diané 6Randriamanantany Zely Arivelo Randriamanantany Zely Arivelo 4Steve Ahuka Steve Ahuka 5Chinwe Lucia Ochu Chinwe Lucia Ochu 2Charbel El Bcheraoui Charbel El Bcheraoui 1
  • 1 Robert Koch Institute (RKI), Berlin, Germany
  • 2 Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Abuja, Nigeria
  • 3 Department of Global Public Health, Karolinska Institutet (KI), Stockholm, Stockholm, Sweden
  • 4 Laboratoire d'Analyse Medicale Malagasy, Antananarivo, Madagascar
  • 5 Institut National de Recherche Biomédicale (République démocratique du Congo), Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo
  • 6 Bouaké University Hospital, Bouaké, Côte d'Ivoire
  • 7 Other, London, United Kingdom

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Introduction: Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), the leading cause of death globally, are estimated to overtake communicable diseases in sub-Sahara Africa, where healthcare workers (HCWs) play a crucial role in prevention and treatment, but are in extreme shortage, thereby increasing the burden of NCDs among this specific population. To provide evidence for policy-making, we assessed the NCD burden, associated factors and treatment among HCWs in four sub-Saharan African countries.We conducted a cross-sectional study across four sub-Saharan African countries (Côte d'Ivoire (CIV), Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Madagascar (MDG), and Nigeria (NIG)) between February and December 2022. In a standardized questionnaire, sociodemographic, chronic disease and treatment data were self-reported. We estimated the prevalence of 1) at least one chronic disease, 2) hypertension, and used backward elimination logistic regression model to identify risk factors.We recruited a total of 6,848 HCWs. The prevalence of at least one chronic disease ranged between 9.7% in NIG and 20.6% in MDG, the prevalence of hypertension between 5.4% in CIV and 11.3% in MDG. At most, reported treatment rates reached 36.5%.The odds of each of both outcomes increased with age (at least one chronic disease adjusted odds ratio:

    Keywords: Non-communicable diseases, Sub-Sahara Africa, Hypertension, diabetes, Healthcare workers

    Received: 23 Jan 2024; Accepted: 16 Apr 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Müller, Elimian, Rafamatanantsoa, Reichert, Mosala, Böff, Touré, Boone, Ravaoarisoa, Nduenga, Ortu, Pozo-Martin, Tomczyk, Eckmanns, Okwor, Akoua-Koffi, Diané, Zely Arivelo, Ahuka, Ochu and El Bcheraoui. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Sophie A. Müller, Robert Koch Institute (RKI), Berlin, Germany

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.