BACKGROUND
Haiti faces chronic instability for decades, but recent years have seen exacerbation following the assassination of president Juvenel Moise in 2021. Over 95 armed gangs are battling for control of Port-au-Prince and constant clashes paralyze infrastructure and medical assistance. Data on mortality and violence are virtually non-existent. To address this information gap, we conducted two retrospective mortality surveys, one among MSF national staff and another in the Cité Soleil commune population in Port-au-Prince.
METHODS
The first cross-sectional survey was conducted in April 2023 among the MSF-OCP, OCA and OCB national staff and their families. All 1545 MSF Haitian employees were eligible. The second took place in August 2023 in the Cité Soleil commune, where a spatial sample of 1400 households was randomly selected. Indicators included crude mortality rate, causes of death, and experiences of violence.
RESULTS
The MSF staff survey interviewed 819 members representing 3977 individuals, while the Cité Soleil survey interviewed 1669 households representing 8202 individuals. Mortality was low in the MSF staff, with only 6 deaths, in Cité Soleil, 176 deaths were reported, translating into a crude mortality rate of 0.63/10000/day [95% CI: 0.54- 0.73]. Violence accounted for 40% of deaths, with an estimated age-standardized number of homicides of 2,300. Nearly half of MSF Staff family members and Cité Soleil participants experienced some form of violence.
CONCLUSION
Our findings confirm the alarming levels of violence experienced by the Haitian population. In 2022-2023, Haiti was one of the most dangerous countries in the world for civilians. Urgent action is needed to strengthen humanitarian access, healthcare provision and civilian protection. Two surveys conducted by Epicentre/MSF in 2023 in Haiti confirm the extreme violence the population is suffering. Urgent action is needed to improve healthcare access and civilian protection.
KEY MESSAGE
Two surveys conducted by Epicentre/MSF in 2023 in Haiti confirm the extreme violence the population is suffering. Urgent action is needed to improve healthcare access and civilian protection.
Homeless people have a higher risk of COVID-19 infection, linked to several social, economic and environmental determinants, frequent comorbidities, obstacles to exercising their constitutional social and health rights, poor medical cover, and insufficient use of the healthcare system. Data on COVID-19 vaccine uptake and its main determinants are lacking for this underserved population.
OBJECTIVES
To construct and test a conceptual framework to model structural social determinants of COVID-19 vaccine uptake among underserved homeless populations, and to test this model to identify the determinants of COVID-19 vaccine uptake on the homeless population living in two metropolitan areas in France.
METHODS
We implemented a multicenter cross-sectional survey from 15/11/2021 to 22/12/2021 in homeless adults in the city of Marseille and in the greater Paris area. Persons sheltered in migrant worker hostels or in emergency social shelters, members of the COVID HOMELESS cohort study in Marseille, and Travelers living in traditional housing were all eligible. A standardized face-to-face questionnaire was administered to the participants where they lived in various languages by trained interviewers. We used structural equation modeling to analyze the structural social determinants of COVID-19 vaccine uptake, the latter defined as receiving at least one dose.
RESULTS
The participation rate was 64%, accounting for 3811 participants. There were three main factors associated with greater vaccine uptake: i) opportunity, which included having a personal general practitioner (β = 0.05, p < 0.05), healthcare cover (β = 0.05, p < 0.05), and somebody to accompany the participant for medical appointments (β = -0.04, p < 0.05); ii) motivation, which included attitudes towards vaccination (β = 0.55, p < 0.05), press- and poster-based information (β = 0.03, p < 0.05), and vaccination history (β = 0.03, p < 0.05); iii) type of housing (β = 0.13, p < 0.05) and housing stability (β = 0.04, p < 0.05).
CONCLUSION
Our results highlight that housing exclusion is a structural social determinant of COVID-19 vaccine uptake in homeless people in France. They also underline the role which opportunity and motivation play in improving uptake in this underserved homeless population.
Migrants, people experiencing homelessness (PEH), or precariously housed (PH) are at high risk for COVID-19 infection, hospitalization, and death from COVID-19. However, while data on COVID-19 vaccine uptake in these populations are available in the USA, Canada, and Denmark, we are lacking, to the best of our knowledge, data from France.
METHODS
In late 2021, we carried out a cross-sectional survey to determine COVID-19 vaccine coverage in PEH/PH residing in Ile-de-France and Marseille, France, and to explore its drivers. Participants aged over 18 years were interviewed face-to-face where they slept the previous night, in their preferred language, and then stratified for analysis into three housing groups (Streets, Accommodated, and Precariously Housed). Standardized vaccination rates were computed and compared to the French population. Multilevel univariate and multivariable logistic regression models were built.
RESULTS
We find that 76.2% (95% confidence interval [CI] 74.3–78.1) of the 3690 participants received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose while 91.1% of the French population did so. Vaccine uptake varies by stratum, with the highest uptake (85.6%; reference) in PH, followed by Accommodated (75.4%; adjusted odds-ratio = 0.79; 95% CI 0.51–1.09 vs. PH) and lowest in Streets (42.0%; AOR = 0.38; 95%CI 0.25–0.57 vs. PH). Use for vaccine certificate, age, socioeconomic factors, and vaccine hesitancy is associated with vaccination coverage.
CONCLUSIONS
In France, PEH/PH, and especially the most excluded, are less likely than the general population to receive COVID-19 vaccines. While vaccine mandate has proved an effective strategy, targeted outreach, on-site vaccinations, and sensitization activities are strategies enhancing vaccine uptake that can easily be replicated in future campaigns and other settings.
French nursing homes were deeply affected by the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, with 38% of all residents infected and 5% dying. Yet, little was done to prepare these facilities for the second pandemic wave, and subsequent outbreak response strategies largely duplicated what had been done in the spring of 2020, regardless of the unique needs of the care home environment.
METHODS
A cross-sectional, mixed-methods study using a retrospective, quantitative data from residents of 14 nursing homes between November 2020 and mid-January 2021. Four facilities were purposively selected as qualitative study sites for additional in-person, in-depth interviews in January and February 2021.
RESULTS
The average attack rate in the 14 participating nursing facilities was 39% among staff and 61% among residents. One-fifth (20) of infected residents ultimately died from COVID-19 and its complications. Failure to thrive syndrome (FTTS) was diagnosed in 23% of COVID-19-positive residents. Those at highest risk of death were men (HR=1.78; 95% CI: 1.18 to 2.70; p=0.006), with FTTS (HR=4.04; 95% CI: 1.93 to 8.48; p<0.001) or in facilities with delayed implementation of universal FFP2 masking policies (HR=1.05; 95% CI: 1.02 to 1.07; p<0.001). The lowest mortality was found in residents of facilities with a partial (HR=0.30; 95% CI: 0.18 to 0.51; p<0.001) or full-time physician on staff (HR=0.20; 95% CI: 0.08 to 0.53; p=0.001). Significant themes emerging from qualitative analysis centred on (1) the structural, chronic neglect of nursing homes, (2) the negative effects of the top-down, bureaucratic nature of COVID-19 crisis response, and (3) the counterproductive effects of lockdowns on both residents and staff.
CONCLUSION
Despite high resident mortality during the first pandemic wave, French nursing homes were ill-prepared for the second, with risk factors (especially staffing, lack of medical support, isolation/quarantine policy, etc) that affected case fatality and residents’ and caregivers’ overall well-being and mental health.
French nursing homes were deeply affected by the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, with 38% of all residents infected and 5% dying. Yet, little was done to prepare these facilities for the second pandemic wave, and subsequent outbreak response strategies largely duplicated what had been done in the spring of 2020, regardless of the unique needs of the care home environment.
METHODS
A cross-sectional, mixed-methods study using retrospective, quantitative data from residents of 14 nursing homes between November 2020 and mid-January 2021. Four facilities were purposively selected as qualitative study sites for additional in-person, in-depth interviews in January and February 2021.
RESULTS
The average attack rate in the 14 participating nursing facilities was 39% among staff and 61% among residents. One-fifth (20) of infected residents ultimately died from COVID-19 and its complications. Failure-to-Thrive-Syndrome (FTTS) was diagnosed in 23% of COVID-positive residents. Those at highest risk of death were men (HR=1.78; IC95: 1.18 – 2.70; p=0.006) with FTTS (HR=4.04; IC95: 1.93 – 8.48; p<0.001) in facilities with delayed implementation of universal FFP2 masking policies (HR=1.05; IC95: 1.02 – 1.07; p<0.001). The lowest mortality was found in residents of facilities with a partial (HR=0.30; IC95: 0.18 – 0.51; p<0.001) or full-time physician on staff (HR=0.20; IC95: 0.08 – 0.53; p=0.001). Significant themes emerging from qualitative analysis centered on (i) the structural, chronic neglect of nursing homes, (ii) the negative effects of the top-down, bureaucratic nature of COVID-19 crisis response, and (iii) the counterproductive effects of lockdowns on both residents and staff.
CONCLUSION
Despite high resident mortality during the first pandemic wave, French nursing homes were ill-prepared for the second, with risk factors (especially staffing, lack of medical support, isolation/quarantine policy etc) that affected case fatality and residents’ and caregivers’ overall well-being and mental health.
KEY MESSAGE
Future debates about a pandemic response in nursing homes should consider factors like the social needs of residents or understaffing and should refine general health policies and prevention measures.
This abstract is not to be quoted for publication
The prognostic significance of hyperlactatemia in young children with liver injury suspected to be attributed to repeated supratherapeutic doses of acetaminophen remain understudied.
METHODS:
We conducted a retrospective medical chart review including children aged <5 years admitted with hepatocellular injury. The study was conducted in Bardnesville Junction Hospital operated by Médecins Sans Frontières in Monrovia, Liberia.
RESULTS:
We analyzed 95 children with liver injury in whom a blood lactate measurement on admission was available. Eighty children (84%) were aged <2 years; 49 children (52%) died during hospitalization. The median acetaminophen concentration on admission was 20 mg/L with 60 (70%) children presenting concentrations exceeding 10 mg/L. Median lactate was significantly higher in children who died (10.7 mmol/L; interquartile range (IQR): 8.5-15.7) than those who survived (6.1 mmol/L; IQR: 4.1-8.5), P value < 0.001). The optimal threshold obtained was 7.2 mmol/L with a sensitivity of 84% and specificity 70% (area under curve = 0.80). The previously established thresholds of 3.5 and 4 mmol/L lactate had very low specificity identifying non-survival in children included in this study.
CONCLUSION:
In this setting, young children with ALF possibly attributed to acetaminophen toxicity were unlikely to survive if the venous blood lactate concentration exceeded 7.2 mmol/L.