A return to normal life post-COVID

LOME, September 30, 2022. Félicité is a heroine in the fight against the health crisis in Togo. A hygiene assistant at the National Institute of Hygiene (INH) in Lomé, she is one of thousands of health workers on the front lines of the fight against COVID-19. After a tough two-year battle,  the return to normal life is a real relief for her.

“There are no more lockdowns or curfews, health restrictions have been lifted, cultural and sporting activities have resumed, and people are going to the beach; I am happy to have contributed to this fight,” she says. “It wasn’t easy getting this result because people were hesitant to get the COVID-19 vaccine. But now the pandemic has definitely subsided because of awareness raising, vaccination campaigns, and advanced strategies that involve vaccinating people in remote areas.”

Misinformation was rife on social media in the first weeks of the vaccination campaign and sowed doubt in people’s minds about the vaccine’s reliability. Actions have been undertaken by the Togolese government to increase community awareness, build trust, and better inform the population, which helped increase acceptance of and demand for COVID-19 vaccines.

The INH laboratory - a major asset

Actions taken by INH were key to the success of COVID-19 screening and vaccination in Togo. Before the pandemic, the INH was equipped to handle routine vaccinations, such as for yellow fever and other diseases. However, the arrival of COVID-19 completely upended its operations and increased its workload.

“The number of samples to be tested has exploded, and this has led to a high demand for reagents that exceeded national capacity. Now we have supplemented the range of what was needed for sequencing. And this was all made possible by the partners,” says Dr. Issaka Maman, technical director of the INH molecular biology laboratory.

Félicité shared her optimism, saying “Now I am certain that we are equipped to deal with other crises.”

Togo was the first African country to receive Johnson & Johnson’s single-shot COVID-19 vaccine through the African Vaccine Acquisition Trust (AVAT), under the World Bank-financed Togo COVID-19 Emergency Response and System Strengthening Project. This support has contributed to the rapid increase in vaccine coverage. As of November 4, 2022, more than 3,385,600 doses of vaccine have been administered to 1,777,986 persons.