Table 1 10 priority interventions for securing the health and mental wellbeing of frontline healthcare workers in the COVID-19 response in Africa
From: COVID-19 in Africa: care and protection for frontline healthcare workers
| 1. Secure supplies of PPE of good quality. | |
| 2. Capacity development on PPE use and infection control more generally. | |
| 3. Research examining protection and support interventions for healthcare workers in Africa, including feasible approaches to repeated SARS-CoV-2 testing. | |
| 4. Prioritize healthcare workers for SARS-CoV-2 testing, beds in ICU and other medical wards, drug and vaccine trials, and therapeutics when these become available. | |
| 5. Politicians and other public figures to visit healthcare workers, acknowledge their commitment and sacrifices, and address any negative perceptions towards providers [50]. | |
| 6. Provide food and daily living supplies for healthcare workers, which save them time, but also demonstrate society’s appreciation of their work [51]. | |
| 7. Incorporate a range of healthcare worker cadres into the response, especially community healthcare workers and HIV counsellors. | |
| 8. Creative interventions to reduce risks of infection, such as ‘Eagle-Eye Observers’ who are dedicated full-time staff charged with observing and correcting infection control errors, [52] a task which lay people could potentially do as this is largely based on checklists. | |
| 9. Finances to cover the costs of funerals for healthcare workers. | |
| 10. ‘Risk allowances’ to compensate healthcare workers for the risks they take and to motivate staff to continue to work. |