National estimates of critical care capacity in 54 African countries

The COVID-19 pandemic is an emerging threat across the African continent where critical care capacity is underdeveloped or unknown. In this paper, we describe national critical care capacity including number of ICU beds, number of ventilators, and number of physician and non-physician anesthesia providers for 54 African countries. Data was compiled from a variety of resources including World Bank databases, local and international news media, government reports, local healthcare workers, and published scientific literature. Overall, data on number of physicians, hospital beds, and ICU beds were available for over 90% of countries. Data on number of ventilators, number of physician anesthesia providers (PAP) and non-PAP were available for 46 (85%), 47 (87%) and 37 (69%) countries, respectively. Across all 54 countries included in the analysis, there was an average of 3.10 ICU beds and 0.97 ventilators per 100,000 people, and an average of 2.42 total (physician and non-physician) anesthesia providers per 100,000 people. The purpose of this analysis was to fill in knowledge gaps around current critical care capacity across the African continent and to inform national, regional, and international pandemic preparation and response efforts.