A multicenter cross-sectional study was conducted, between May and July 2021 before any anti-Covid-19 vaccination program implementation, among 720 staff working in six hospitals in the province of North Kivu in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.The aim of the study was to determine the seroprevalence of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies.Individual data on socio-demographic and professional parameters and wearing mask were collected on the basis of a standard form. A blood sample was taken for qualitative determination of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies using immuno-chromatographic “Panbio COVID-19 IgG/IgM Device (25T)” kits.The overall IgG/IgM sero-prevalence was 32.9% (n = 720). This seroprevalence among hospital staff was not significantly associated with their age, gender, professional category, department to which they were assigned in the hospital, or location in a rural or urban setting of their hospitals, nor to the systematic wearing of masks.Among hospital staff who reported contact with a Covid-19 patient, seroprevalence was twice as high at service on the workplace 32.6% (n = 282) [(PR (95% CI)], [2.30 (1.46 – 2.95)] (p = 0.001).In conclusion, the anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies seropositivity level among service providers in hospitals in North Kivu province in Eastern DRC is high and that contamination seems more than half as frequent in a professional hospital environment as at the level of the family unit.
Introduction: As part of a process to reorganize urban health services, this article analyzes the profile of health services in the eastern DRC city of Goma; the aim is to identify their distribution and level of medicalization. Methods: This descriptive and cross-sectional study conducted a comprehensive survey of health care facilities in the city of Goma in January 2018. Geographical and health data (infrastructure, equipment, human resources, care provided) were collected by professionals. They were encoded and analyzed using SPSS version 20 software. Results: The urban supply of care in Goma is too bloated with one facility for 8,794 inhabitants, one hospital bed for 326 inhabitants, one nurse for 586 inhabitants and one doctor for 2567 inhabitants. On the other hand, a lack of midwives, sub-equipment and infrastructure that does not meet hospital standards are observed. This health facilities, mainly privately lucrative (79%) with 56% of establishments created in the last 6 years, are variously distributed. The first-line care offer represents 34% and incorporates a medical practice in 43% of cases. Discussion and Conclusion: This provision of care requires strong regulation from the perspective of a better governed, streamlined and staggered urban health system, which better meets the quality standards and user’s expectations in urban contexts.