SARS-CoV-2 infections among health care workers caused up to 8.38% of total health expenditures in five low- and middle-income countries, underscoring a need for stronger protection measures for frontline workers, who faced increased risk of infection during the COVID-19 pandemic. Writing in Nature Communications, experts at Resolve to Save Lives used a a cost-of-illness (COI) approach to model the economic burden associated with SARS-CoV-2 infections in five low- and middle-income sites (Kenya, Eswatini, Colombia, KwaZulu-Natal province, and Western Cape province of South Africa) during the first year of the pandemic. Our analysis revealed higher infection rates among health care workers compared to the wider population, with significant secondary transmissions and related deaths and impacts on maternal and child mortality. These societal burdens highlight the importance of adequate infection prevention and control (IPC) measures to keep health care workers, and the rest of us, safe during crises.
