Unfortunately, lack of access to diagnostics leading to delay in diagnosis of potentially curable diseases is a typical scenario in many regions especially in the low and middle-income countries (LMICs) in the sub-Saharan Africa region.
In addition, the recent Covid-19 pandemic has brought the shocking lack of diagnostic capabilities at the forefront of public health and has spared no health system, revealing old and ignored fault lines within the entire healthcare landscape.
In Africa and much of the global South there are few diagnosed cases of Covid-19 patients, but public health experts question whether this is due to a low incidence of the disease or the lack of available diagnostic testing.
Perhaps, some of the most vulnerable populations within these LMIC’s are those like Ann Senga who have oncological diseases, cancer, HIV, or tuberculosis, or are immunocompromised, but due to limitations in the diagnostics equipment and workforce, must travel to the same central locations where diagnosis or treatment of Covid-19 patients is ongoing.
During this pandemic, there is a great need for policymakers in health to ensure that they strike a balance between the health response to Covid-19 with the need for continuous delivery of other health services such as cardiovascular diseases, cancer, HIV, diabetes, respiratory illnesses like TB and other critical healthcare services amongst the entire population.
