Artikel
Preliminary estimates of excess deaths during the COVID-19 pandemic in Ghana
Suche in Medline nach
Autoren
-
Jonathan Mawutor Gmanyami
- School of Public Health, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana; German West-African Centre for Global Health and Pandemic Prevention (G-WAC); Global Health and Infectious Diseases Group, Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Research in Tropical Medicine, Ghana
-
Wilm Quentin
- German West-African Centre for Global Health and Pandemic Prevention (G-WAC); Department of Health Care Management, Technische Universität Berlin, Germany
-
Andrzej Jarynowski
- Department of Veterinary Medicine, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany
-
Vitaly Belik
- Department of Veterinary Medicine, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany
-
John Humphrey Amuasi
- School of Public Health, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana; German West-African Centre for Global Health and Pandemic Prevention (G-WAC); Global Health and Infectious Diseases Group, Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Research in Tropical Medicine, Ghana; Bernhard Nocht Institute of Tropical Medicine, Hamburg, Germany
| Veröffentlicht: | 28. November 2023 |
|---|
Gliederung
Text
Research question: Excess mortality is aimed at capturing the true impact of the pandemic beyond only confirmed and reported COVID-19 deaths. This study sought to address the question, what was the level of excess mortality during the COVID-19 pandemic in Ghana?
Methods: Ethical clearance for this study was obtained from the Committee on Human Research and Publication Ethics, KNUST (CHRPE/AP/855/23). The study design involved a comparison of two distinct periods: pre-COVID-19 pandemic (2015–2019) and during the COVID-19 pandemic (2020–2021). The primary data source utilized was the District Health Information Management System (DHIMS). To estimate expected deaths, a moving average modelling technique was employed, with a 5-year baseline.
Results: Total recorded deaths in 2020 were 38,429 and in 2021, 43,569. The expected numbers of deaths for these years were: 34,170 in 2020 and 34,233 in 2021. Excess deaths were estimated to be 4,259 in 2020 and 9,337 in 2021. Excess deaths represented an 11% increase in deaths in 2020 and a 21% increase in 2021. Furthermore, the excess mortality per 100,000 population was 13.8 in 2020 and increased to 30.3 in 2021. In 2020, excess deaths were observed in eleven out of sixteen regions, while in 2021, 12 regions recorded excess deaths.
Discussion: Overall, the observed deaths were higher than the expected deaths during the COVID-19 pandemic in Ghana. These are preliminary results and only include deaths recorded in health facilities. The findings of this study help to better understand the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on mortality, inform the design and implementation of interventions and measurement of their impacts during outbreaks, show regional variations, and help to understand the epicentres of the COVID-19 pandemic. Further studies are needed to identify the drivers of excess mortality in Ghana using other data sources.
