Genesis surveys impact of Covid on healthcare utilisation

Genesis has been contracted by the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) to conduct a cross-sectional survey in three South African provinces of healthcare utilisation and seroprevalence during the Covid-19 pandemic a.

The purpose of this survey is to understand community healthcare utilisation, knowledge attitudes and practices (KAP) and the economic burden on households associated with the Covid-19 pandemic. Nested within the household utilisation survey is a community SARS-CoV-2 sero-survey to estimate the community infection rate of SARS-CoV-2.

Understanding factors associated with the Covid-19 infections is key to guiding containment and mitigation measures in local settings and globally. In addition, quantifying and understanding the disease burden of Covid-19 and groups at increased risk of severe Covid-19 is key to informing mitigation guidelines for continuing and potential future epidemics.

Genesis is the lead partner responsible for overseeing the implementation of the survey. We are developing standard operating procedures, and supporting study tools development, conducting real-time data quality assurance, data management and data analysis.

It is hoped that the results of this survey will help inform the Department of Health plan for the second wave, as the increasing Covid-19 infections threaten a resurgence of the pandemic in the country.

Covid-19 Special Public Health Surveillance Bulletin

Picture: Reuters