[The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on health service utilisation in the City of Niamey: a study conducted in 17 health care facilities from January to June 2020]. / Impact de la pandémie de la COVID-19 sur l'utilisation des services de santé dans la ville de Niamey: une analyse dans 17 formations sanitaires de janvier à juin 2020.

COVID-19 pandemic has posed huge challenges for the health system in Africa; however they haven´t been well quantified. The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on curative and preventive activities in health care facilities at 17 integrated health centers in Niamey by comparing the first half of 2020 and the first half of 2019. The differences were more pronounced in the second quarter of 2020, with a 34% reduction (95% CI: -47% to -21%) for curative care, 61% (95% CI: -74% to -48%) for pentavalent vaccines 1 and 3 and 36% (95% CI: -49% to -23%) for VAR 1. A nearly zero gain of 1% (95% IC: -2% to 4%) was reported for prenatal care attendance, thus reversing the gains of the first quarter. The COVID-19 pandemic has had negative effects on service deliveries to the most vulnerable groups, such as women and children. New strategies, such as community engagement, are essential.

[COVID-19 control in Niger: an assessment of infection prevention and control practices at healthcare facilities in the city of Niamey]. / La lutte contre le COVID-19 au Niger: l´évaluation de la prévention et contrôle des infections dans les formations sanitaires de la communauté urbaine de Niamey.

Niger has been facing the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic since 19th March 2020. In this article we report an assessment of infection prevention and control (IPC) practices at healthcare facilities in the city of Niamey in Niger and propose solutions. This assessment focused on the 12 themes contained in the World Health Organization IPC assessment framework for healthcare facilities. The assessment was conducted in 83 public and private healthcare facilities, which represent 60% of healthcare facilities in the city of Niamey. At the level of tertiary healthcare facilities, the overall IPC score was 75% which represents a moderate level of compliance with recommended IPC practices. At the level of private healthcare facilities, the overall score was 53%; also, a moderate level of performance. Finally, the overall IPC score was 45% at primary public healthcare facilities; which shows a very low level of adherence to IPC recommendations. IPC practices in public and private healthcare facilities in Niamey remain a challenge for healthcare authorities. Developing a tailored restorative plan would be helpful in meeting this challenge.

First occurrence of Rift Valley fever outbreak in Niger, 2016.

Rift Valley fever (RVF) is a mosquito-borne viral zoonosis causing abortions and high mortality among animals, whereas in humans, the disease is usually mild or asymptomatic. In September 2016, the Republic of Niger declared the first RVF outbreak in the northern region of Tahoua near the Malian border. This study describes the outbreak and reports the results of serological and molecular investigations of the human and animal samples collected. Serum samples from both human and animal suspected cases have been confirmed at the Centre de Recherche Médicale et Sanitaire (CERMES) and the Laboratoire Centrale d'Elevage (LABOCEL) public health and animal reference laboratories, respectively. Techniques for biological confirmation were real time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Phylogenetic trees were established after genetic sequencing of the small and medium segments of the RVF virus (RVFV) genome. Out of the 399 human samples collected, 17 (4.3%) were confirmed positive for RVFV. Overall, 33 (8.3%) deaths occurred out of which five (29%) were among the 17 confirmed cases. Regarding animals, 45 samples were tested, three of which were RT-PCR positive and 24 were IgG positive. The phylogenetic analyses showed that the Niger strains clustered with Senegal 2013 and Mauritania 2015 RVFV strains. This first outbreak of RVF was very challenging for public and animal health laboratories in Niger. Besides resulting in human deaths, important loss of cattle has been reported. Therefore, vigilance has to be strengthened emphasising vector control strategies and active surveillance among animals.