scholarly journals COVID-19 lockdown implementation in Ghana: lessons learned and hurdles to overcome

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abraham Assan ◽  
Hawawu Hussein ◽  
David N. K. Agyeman-Duah
Keyword(s):  
Health Systems ◽  
Disease Transmission ◽  
Urban Poor ◽  
Global Economy ◽  
Preventive Measure ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
The Public ◽  
Key Stakeholders ◽  
Effective Policy

AbstractCOVID-19 exacts huge health and economic burdens on the global economy. To minimize spread of the virus, most governments of the wealthiest countries implemented lockdowns—a tough preventive measure. Ghana implemented a partial lockdown of two major cities, then lifted it in few weeks despite rising numbers of cases. This Viewpoint presents perspectives of key stakeholders in the public about lockdown implementation in Ghana. Respondents characterize the lifting of the lockdown as hasty, poorly communicated, and lacking transparency. Most would have preferred a longer lockdown despite the pressures it imposed especially on the urban poor. Participants expressed uncertainty about the health systems' ability to respond to increases in disease transmission and to provide education, engagement, and empowerment needed in communities, but even so would have preferred a longer lockdown. We offer lessons for more effective policy and implementation of lockdowns.

Value Pricing and Public Outreach

2005 ◽  
Vol 1932 (1) ◽  
pp. 164-168
Author(s):  
Lee W. Munnich ◽  
Joseph D. Loveland
Keyword(s):  
Public Support ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Public Outreach ◽  
The Public ◽  
Transportation Projects ◽  
Key Stakeholders ◽  
Value Pricing

The feasibility and worth of value pricing transportation projects are well documented, but gaining approval for projects has been thwarted by an inability to sell the public and key stakeholders on the concept. Value pricing advocates in Minnesota struggled with this challenge for more than a decade. After several Minnesota value pricing projects failed because of a lack of public support, Minnesota supporters implemented a revised public outreach strategy in 2001. With the use of that strategy, they met with success in 2003 in the approval of the I-394 MnPass project, which will be implemented in spring 2005. The communications-related lessons learned in Minnesota during the decade-long case study may be instructive for others struggling to gain approval for their own projects.

scholarly journals The Privatization of the Italian National Health System and its Impact on Health Emergency Preparedness and Response: The COVID-19 Case

2021 ◽  
pp. 002073142110249
Author(s):  
Maria Luisa Buzelli ◽  
Tammy Boyce
Keyword(s):  
Health System ◽  
Health Systems ◽  
National Health ◽  
Emergency Preparedness ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Health Sector ◽  
National Health System ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Future Health ◽  
The Public

Hospitals play a critical role in providing essential care during emergencies; however, this essential care can overwhelm the functional capacity of health systems. In Italy, substantial cuts in funding have drastically reduced the resources of the National Health Service (NHS) and contributed to the expansion of the private health sector which, unlike the public health system, does not have the capacity to deal with a health emergency such as coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The purpose of this article is to show how the privatization of the NHS contributed to making Italy more vulnerable and unprepared to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic. The available capacity and resources in the public and private emergency services systems in Italy are compared, including a focus on the numbers of hospital staff, hospitals, and hospital beds. The reduced funding and subsequent shortfalls in services in the NHS are reasons why extreme measures were needed to increase these resources during the COVID-19 pandemic. A public NHS in Italy would be better prepared for future health emergencies. The lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic can help to inform future health systems strategies, to halt the current financial decline and performance loss of national health systems, and to enable better preparation for future health emergencies.

scholarly journals Public Perception and Potential Acceptance of COVID-19 Vaccine in India

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 23-31
Author(s):  
Bibhabasu Das ◽  
◽  
Apurva Padhye ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome ◽  
Health Systems ◽  
Global Economy ◽  
Public Perception ◽  
Human Life ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Health Systems ◽  
Development Data ◽  
Socio Demographic Factors

The COVID-19 pandemic, caused by Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)virus, has led to a substantial loss of human life and the global economy, and presents anunprecedented collapse of the public health systems worldwide. The sped-up advancement of theCOVID-19 vaccine is an important development. Data from the early trials suggest that the vaccineis safe as well as effective. However, the acceptance of the COVID-19 vaccine among the publicdepends on various socio-demographic factors. The primary aim of the study is to get a deeperunderstanding and analysis of the public's perception, information and sentiment towards theCOVID-19 vaccine in India.

Periodic monitoring of vampire bats and rabies: a new framework for animal restoration projects in the Neotropics

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fernando Gonçalves ◽  
Daniel G. Streicker ◽  
Mauro Galetti
Keyword(s):  
Disease Transmission ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Multidisciplinary Teams ◽  
Risk Area ◽  
Food Web Structure ◽  
Land Bridge ◽  
High Risk Area ◽  
Restoration Project ◽  
Vampire Bats

Nowadays, restoration project might lead to increased public engagement and enthusiasm for biodiversity and is receiving increased media attention in major newspapers, TED talks and the scientific literature. However, empirical research on restoration project is rare, fragmented, and geographically biased and long-term studies that monitor indirect and unexpected effects are needed to support future management decisions especially in the Neotropical area. Changes in animal population dynamics and community composition following species (re)introduction may have unanticipated consequences for a variety of downstream ecosystem processes, including food web structure, predator-prey systems and infectious disease transmission. Recently, an unprecedented study in Brazil showed changes in vampire bat feeding following a rewilding project and further transformed the land-bridge island into a high-risk area for rabies transmission. Due the lessons learned from ongoing project, we present a novel approach on how to anticipate, monitor, and mitigate the vampire bats and rabies in rewilding projects. We pinpoint a series of precautions and the need for long-term monitoring of vampire bats and rabies responses to rewilding projects and highlighted the importance of multidisciplinary teams of scientist and managers focusing on prevention educational program of rabies risk transmitted by bats. In addition, monitoring the relative abundance of vampire bats, considering reproductive control by sterilization and oral vaccines that autonomously transfer among bats would reduce the probability, size and duration of rabies outbreaks. The rewilding assessment framework presented here responds to calls to better integrate the science and practice of rewilding and also could be used for long-term studying of bat-transmitted pathogen in the Neotropical area as the region is considered a geographic hotspots of “missing bat zoonoses”.

scholarly journals Attitudes and willingness toward out-of-hospital cardiopulmonary resuscitation: a questionnaire study among the public trained online in China

BMJ Open ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. e038712
Author(s):  
Yi Jiang ◽  
Bangsheng Wu ◽  
Long Long ◽  
Jiaxing Li ◽  
Xiaoqing Jin
Keyword(s):  
Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation ◽  
Disease Transmission ◽  
Public Attitudes ◽  
Online Training ◽  
First Aid ◽  
The Public ◽  
Close Family Member ◽  
Positive Attitudes ◽  
Bystander Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation ◽  
Cpr Training

ObjectivesThe incidence of bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is low in China. CPR training could improve public attitudes and willingness, but at present, the attitudes of the public after online training are unclear. This study investigated individual attitudes towards CPR, the willingness to perform it in emergencies along with the main obstacles and the overall effects of online training.DesignQuestionnaires were distributed to investigate the public attitudes and willingness towards performing bystander CPR.SettingQuestionnaires were accessible after the online course ‘First Aid’.Participants1888 students who attended ‘First Aid’ from December 2019 to 1 January 2020 and then completed the questionnaire voluntarily.ResultsThe majority understood CPR (96.7%) and displayed a willingness to learn (98.4%) and to disseminate CPR knowledge (82.0%). Characteristics associated with more positive attitudes included women, the 26–35-year olds and those in medical-related occupations (p<0.05). Only 34.8% had CPR training before. Most people would willingly perform CPR on a close family member. Compared with the standard CPR (S-CPR), the public preferred chest compression-only CPR (CO-CPR) (p<0.01). The top three obstacles to performing CO-CPR were lack of confidence (26.7%), fear of harming the victim (23.4%) and causing legal trouble (20.7%), while regarding S-CPR, fear of disease transmission (22.9%) ranked second. Women, those in poor health and in medical-related occupations, were more likely to perform CPR (p<0.05). The confidence to perform CPR was improved remarkably after online training (p<0.05).ConclusionsThe overwhelming majority of respondents showed positive attitudes and willingness towards CPR. In some cases, there is still reluctance, especially towards S-CPR. Obstacles arise mainly due to lack of confidence in administering CPR, while online CPR training can markedly improve it. Therefore, we should focus on disseminating CPR knowledge, targeting those who are less willing to perform CPR and helping overcome their obstacles by online training.

scholarly journals 22.F. Workshop: What makes for resilient health systems? Evidence from the State of Health in the EU country profiles

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Keyword(s):  
Health System ◽  
Health Systems ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
The State ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Three Dimensions ◽  
Health System Strengthening ◽  
New Work ◽  
State Of Health ◽  
The Eu

Abstract The European Commission's State of Health in the EU (SoHEU) initiative aims to provide factual, comparative data and insights into health and health systems in EU countries. The resulting Country Health Profiles, published every two years (current editions: November 2019) are the joint work of the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies and the OECD, in cooperation with the European Commission. They are designed to support the efforts of Member States in their evidence-based policy making and to contribute to health care systems' strengthening. In addition to short syntheses of population health status, determinants of health and the organisation of the health system, the Country Profiles provide an assessment of the health system, looking at its effectiveness, accessibility and resilience. The idea of resilient health systems has been gaining traction among policy makers. The framework developed for the Country Profiles template sets out three dimensions and associated policy strategies and indicators as building blocks for assessing resilience. The framework adopts a broader definition of resilience, covering the ability to respond to extreme shocks as well as measures to address more predictable and chronic health system strains, such as population ageing or multimorbidity. However, the current framework predates the onset of the novel coronavirus pandemic as well as new work on resilience being done by the SoHEU project partners. This workshop aims to present resilience-enhancing strategies and challenges to a wide audience and to explore how using the evidence from the Country Profiles can contribute to strengthening health systems and improving their performance. A brief introduction on the SoHEU initiative will be followed by the main presentation on the analytical framework on resilience used for the Country Profiles. Along with country examples, we will present the wider results of an audit of the most common health system resilience strategies and challenges emerging from the 30 Country Profiles in 2019. A roundtable discussion will follow, incorporating audience contributions online. The Panel will discuss the results on resilience actions from the 2019 Country Profiles evidence, including: Why is resilience important as a practical objective and how is it related to health system strengthening and performance? How can countries use their resilience-related findings to steer national reform efforts? In addition, panellists will outline how lessons learned from country responses to the Covid-19 pandemic and new work on resilience by the Observatory (resilience policy briefs), OECD (2020 Health at a Glance) and the EC (Expert Group on Health Systems Performance Assessment (HSPA) Report on Resilience) can feed in and improve the resilience framework that will be used in the 2021 Country Profiles. Key messages Knowing what makes health systems resilient can improve their performance and ability to meet the current and future needs of their populations. The State of Health in the EU country profiles generate EU-wide evidence on the common resilience challenges facing countries’ health systems and the strategies being employed to address them.

scholarly journals Trusting the Corona-Warn-App? Contemplations on trust and trustworthiness at the intersection of technology, politics and public debate

2021 ◽  
pp. 026732312110283
Author(s):  
Judith Simon ◽  
Gernot Rieder
Keyword(s):  
Technology Development ◽  
Public Debate ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Initial Development ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Debates ◽  
Moral Duties ◽  
Moral Demands

Ever since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, questions of whom or what to trust have become paramount. This article examines the public debates surrounding the initial development of the German Corona-Warn-App in 2020 as a case study to analyse such questions at the intersection of trust and trustworthiness in technology development, design and oversight. Providing some insights into the nature and dynamics of trust and trustworthiness, we argue that (a) trust is only desirable and justified if placed well, that is, if directed at those being trustworthy; that (b) trust and trustworthiness come in degrees and have both epistemic and moral components; and that (c) such a normatively demanding understanding of trust excludes technologies as proper objects of trust and requires that trust is directed at socio-technical assemblages consisting of both humans and artefacts. We conclude with some lessons learned from our case study, highlighting the epistemic and moral demands for trustworthy technology development as well as for public debates about such technologies, which ultimately requires attributing epistemic and moral duties to all actors involved.

Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood, and strain upon the start: enfranchising the medical profession for clinically proximate advocacy of improved healthcare

2021 ◽  
pp. 103985622110250
Author(s):  
Jeffrey C L Looi ◽  
Stephen Allison ◽  
Stephen R Kisely ◽  
Tarun Bastiampillai
Keyword(s):  
Resource Allocation ◽  
Health Systems ◽  
Medical Profession ◽  
Continuing Professional Development ◽  
Health Advocacy ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Medical Practitioners ◽  
The Public ◽  
Team Activity

Objective: To discuss and reflect upon the role of medical practitioners, including psychiatrists, as health advocates on behalf of patients, carers and staff. Conclusions: Health advocacy is a key professional competency of medical practitioners, and is part of the RANZCP framework for training and continuing professional development. Since advocacy is often a team activity, there is much that is gained experientially from volunteering and working with other more experienced health advocates within structurally and financially independent (of health systems and governments) representative groups (RANZCP, AMA, unions). Doctors may begin with clinically proximate advocacy for improved healthcare in health systems, across the public and private sectors. Health advocacy requires skill and courage, but can ultimately influence systemic outcomes, sway policy decisions, and improve resource allocation.

scholarly journals Effectiveness of Face Coverings in Mitigating the COVID-19 Pandemic in the United States

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (7) ◽  
pp. 3666
Author(s):  
Olukayode James Ayodeji ◽  
Seshadri Ramkumar
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
United States ◽  
District Of Columbia ◽  
Preventive Measure ◽  
The United States ◽  
Protective Measure ◽  
Sharp Change ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Health Challenges ◽  
Effective Preventive Measure

The COVID-19 pandemic has been one of the biggest public health challenges of the 21st century. Many prevalent measures have been taken to prevent its spread and protect the public. However, the use of face coverings as an effective preventive measure remains contentious. The goal of the current study is to evaluate the effectiveness of face coverings as a protective measure. We examined the effectiveness of face coverings between 1 April and 31 December 2020. This was accomplished by analyzing trends of daily new COVID-19 cases, cumulative confirmed cases, and cases per 100,000 people in different U.S. states, including the District of Columbia. The results indicated a sharp change in trends after face covering mandates. For the 32 states with face covering mandates, 63% and 66% exhibited a downward trend in confirmed cases within 21 and 28 days of implementation, respectively. We estimated that face covering mandates in the 32 states prevented approximately 78,571 and 109,703 cases within 21- and 28-day periods post face covering mandate, respectively. A statistically significant (p = 0.001) negative correlation (−0.54) was observed between the rate of cases and days since the adoption of a face covering mandate. We concluded that the use of face coverings can provide necessary protection if they are properly used.

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