How Does COVID-19 Affect the Behavior of Sickle Cell Patients in Gabon?

Abstract

Life evolves, and habits change as situations change, such as those experienced in 2019, when the entire community was taken by surprise by the appearance of an unknown virus SARS-CoV-2. Faced with this unknown, health policymakers put in place regulations to protect populations in each of the countries affected. As a result, the habits of people living with a chronic disease such as sickle-cell anaemia had to be changed. However, it is important to understand how the COVID-19 pandemic contributed to the change in the way Gabonese people living with sickle-cell anaemia used hospital facilities for their regular medical check-ups. We therefore carried out a field survey involving a questionnaire sent to the heads of households in the four administrative districts of the commune of Franceville. The main information obtained from these questionnaires is as follows. Most sickle-cell subjects (64.40%) had no difficulty in accessing healthcare services during the Pandemic. Only 11.10% had difficulties, and the remaining 24.50% refrained from going to hospital. When it comes to accepting the vaccination against the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the response was hundred percent negative. In general, most of this segment of the population had changed their habits on hospital medical consultations, which have been transformed into telephone consultations, videoconferencing, or self-medication.