key: cord-0998267-atzehdpj authors: Kounou, Kossi Blewussi; Guédénon, Koffi Mawuse; Dogbe Foli, Ayoko Akouavi; Gnassounou‐Akpa, Eric title: Mental health of medical professionals during the covid‐19 pandemic in Togo date: 2020-07-03 journal: Psychiatry Clin Neurosci DOI: 10.1111/pcn.13108 sha: 5d403f89ef84acc635ba05555708f6b9e32c0cff doc_id: 998267 cord_uid: atzehdpj nan This manuscript is submitted to the following fields: 1. General topics in psychiatry and related fields 2. Social psychiatry and epidemiology The coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic had spread quickly around the world. As of May 18, 2020, there are more than 4 million confirmed cases in the world. The continuous and rapid spread of the covid-19 pandemic have psychological impact on general population and specially on healthcare professionals who experience an extraordinary stress daily and high rates of psychiatric morbidity 1 . The prevalence of mental health disorders related to covid-19 is high in the general population and healthcare staff in many countries 2 This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. Sixty-two (62) medical professionals, mainly doctors and nurses (M=35.5 years (SD: 8.75)), 56.5% women of two medical centers of Lomé, including the first university hospital of Togo (Sylvanus Olympio University Hospital) completed three (3) selfquestionnaires (GAD-7 3 , PHQ-9 4 and PSM-9 5 to assess generalized anxiety symptoms, depression symptoms, and psychological distress, respectively. Participants were nurses This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. score was high, and was significantly correlated with anxiety and depression symptoms (r=0.44, P<.01), and (r=0.67, P<.01), respectively. Togolese medical professionals are experiencing a high and extraordinary psychological distress, anxiety, and depression during the covid-19 pandemic. In our study, anxiety rate is 62.9% which is higher than the frequency reported by Liu and colloborators 6 in China. Previous research have found increased anxiety among medical workers during the Ebola pandemic in Liberia 7 . Depression frequency in our research is 51.6% which is slightly higher than Liu and collaborators findings (50.7%). Nurses reported more depression rate than doctors, this result is in line with previous research 1 . Despite the low relative infection of covid-19 in Togo, medical professionals reported high symptoms of anxiety, depression, and psychological distress. This should be explained by the poor quality of healthcare system in Togo, and a lack of adequate equipment to deal with the covid-19 pandemic. For instance, many health professionals during the current study recommend the use of masks by the entire population as observed in some countries (China and South Korea) to deal with the covid-19. In response to these findings in our study, it urges to give mental health care for Togolese medical professionals. This suggestion is essential, according to the findings of Kang and collaborators 8 supporting that the protection of mental health of medical workers is important for control of the covid-19 pandemic and their own long-term health. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. Togolese medical staff should beneficiate from mental health care to cope effectively with their stress and mental status during and after the covid-19 pandemic according to Chen et al. suggestions 9 , and lessons learnt during Ebola outbreak in West Africa may help them 7 . Considering lessons from China using various kinds of mental health interventions such as relaxation, cognitive therapies, dance-based exercises 10 for medical professionals, should be warranted. KBK helped in the conception and design of the study, participated in the acquisition and analysis of data, wrote the original draft of the manuscript and critically revised the manuscript; KMG, AADF and EGA helped in the acquisition of data, critically revised and edited the manuscript. COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on mental health of healthcare professionals Mental health during and after the COVID-19 emergency in Italy A brief measure for assessing generalized anxiety disorder: the GAD-7 The PHQ-9: validity of a brief depression severity measure Measuring psychological stress: Concept, model, and measurement instrument in primary care research Online mental health services in China during the COVID-19 outbreak Mental distress among Liberian medical staff working at the China Ebola Treatment Unit: a cross sectional study The mental health of medical workers in Wuhan, China dealing with the 2019 novel coronavirus Mental health care for medical staff in China during the COVID-19 outbreak Mitigating mental health consequences during the COVID-19 outbreak: Lessons from China The authors declare no conflict of interest.This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.