AUTHOR=Owoyemi Ayomide , Balogun Tolulope , Okoro Joy , Ndoro Tariro , Fasominu Oluwakayode , Atanda Adejare , Abioye Ibraheem 

TITLE=An Assessment of Systemic Factors and COVID-19 Mortality in Africa

JOURNAL=International Journal of Public Health

VOLUME=Volume 67 - 2022

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.ssph-journal.org/journals/international-journal-of-public-health/articles/10.3389/ijph.2022.1604915

DOI=10.3389/ijph.2022.1604915

ISSN=1661-8564

ABSTRACT=Objectives
The objective of this study was to examine the association between several country-level systemic indices and the deaths from COVID-19 across African countries.
Method
Regression analyses were conducted to test the association between selected indices and deaths from COVID-19 across African countries. All tests were run at the α= 0.05 level of significance. 
Result
We found a statistically significant correlation between total COVID-19 deaths per million and Stringency Index (p-value <0.001) and Human Development Index (p-value <0.001). Multiple regression analysis showed that Stringency Index was the only variable that remained significant when other factors are controlled for in the model.
Conclusion
Countries in Africa with poorer governance, inadequate pandemic preparedness and lower levels of development have unexpectedly fared better with respect to COVID-19 deaths mainly because of having a younger population than the countries with better indices.