AUTHOR=Owoyemi Ayomide , Balogun Tolulope , Okoro Joy , Ndoro Tariro , Fasominu Oluwakayode , Atanda Adejare , Abioye Ibraheem 

TITLE=An Assessment of Systemic Factors and COVID-19 Mortality in Africa

JOURNAL=International Journal of Public Health

VOLUME=67

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.ssph-journal.org/journals/international-journal-of-public-health/articles/10.3389/ijph.2022.1604915

DOI=10.3389/ijph.2022.1604915

ISSN=1661-8564

ABSTRACT=<p><bold>Objectives:</bold> The objective of this study was to examine the association between several country-level systemic indices and the deaths from COVID-19 across African countries.</p><p><bold>Method:</bold> Regression analyses were conducted to test the association between selected indices and deaths from COVID-19 across African countries. All tests were run at the <italic>α</italic> = 0.05 level of significance.</p><p><bold>Result:</bold> We found a statistically significant correlation between total COVID-19 deaths per million and Stringency Index (<italic>p</italic>-value &lt;0.001) and Human Development Index (<italic>p</italic>-value &lt;0.001). Multiple regression analysis showed that Stringency Index was the only variable that remained significant when other factors are controlled for in the model.</p><p><bold>Conclusion:</bold> Countries in Africa with poorer governance, inadequate pandemic preparedness and lower levels of development have unexpectedly fared better with respect to COVID-19 deaths mainly because of having a younger population than the countries with better indices.</p>