From Social Determinants of Health Actions to Fight against the Lassa Virus Hemorrhagic Fever Epidemic in Tchaourou Commune in Benin, 2018

Background: Lassa Hemorrhagic Fever (LHF) is endemo-epidemic in West Africa with seasonal outbreaks raising a major public health issue. Nigeria borders Benin by the Tchaourou Commune. Since 2016, Tchaourou commune has been affected every year by this epidemic. Objective: To study how an action on the health social determinants can contribute to ending this epidemic in Tchaourou commune, Benin. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in Tchaourou commune. All of the cases of LHF occurring in 2016-2018 were retrospectively tracked throughout the commune. The health workers and 172 participants of the general population of villages of the cases were enrolled. We used absolute frequency to describe the LHF cases because of their small number. The descriptive analyses were performed using EPI-INFO 7.1.14. Results: Overall, 27 cases of LHF occurred in Tchaourou. In these 27 cases, 12 were Laboratory-Confirmed. All 4 probable cases died while 42% and 18% died in the confirmed and suspected cases, respectively. Most (75%) of the cases were female. By direct observations, the commune had a weak health-promoting environment for fighting against LHF outbreak. According to the health care staff in the commune, the interventions were for controlling the outbreak and not the promoting interventions to preventing further outbreaks. Conclusion: To fight effectively against the Lassa fever, it is necessary to act on different social determinants of health with community participation, empowerment and health control. The fight against Lassa fever remains a major challenge facing developing countries like Benin.