Responses to infectious disease outbreaks in supported living environments for individuals with neurodevelopmental disorders: a scoping review

Abstract Background The 2014–2016 Ebola outbreak was a wake-up call regarding the critical importance of resilient health systems. Fragile health systems can become overwhelmed during public health crises, further exacerbating the human, economic, and political toll. Important work has been done to describe the general attributes of a health system resilient to these crises, and the next step will be to identify the specific capacities that health systems need to develop and maintain to achieve resiliency. Methods We conducted a scoping review of the literature to identify recurring themes and capacities needed for health system resiliency to infectious disease outbreaks and natural hazards and any existing implementation frameworks that highlight these capacities. We also sought to identify the overlap of the identified themes and capacities with those highlighted in the World Health Organization’s Joint External Evaluation. Sources of evidence included PubMed, Web of Science, OAIster, and the websites of relevant major public health organizations. Results We identified 16 themes of health system resilience, including: the need to develop plans for altered standards of care during emergencies, the need to develop plans for post-event recovery, and a commitment to quality improvement. Most of the literature described the general attributes of a resilient health system; no implementation frameworks were identified that could translate these elements into specific capacities that health system actors can employ to improve resilience to outbreaks and natural hazards in a variety of settings. Conclusions An implementation-oriented health system resilience framework could help translate the important components of a health system identified in this review into specific capacities that actors in the health system could work to develop to improve resilience to public health crises. However, there remains a need to further refine the concept of resilience so that health systems can simultaneously achieve sustainable transformations in healthcare practice and health service delivery as well as improve their preparedness for emergencies.

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Mass testing equity during infectious disease outbreaks: a scoping review. v2 (protocols.io.bvi2n4ge)

protocols.io ◽

10.17504/protocols.io.bvi2n4ge ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Katarina Ost ◽

Louise Duquesne ◽

Claudia Duguay ◽

Isadora Mathevet ◽

Lola Traverson ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Infectious Disease ◽

Scoping Review ◽

Disease Outbreaks ◽

Infectious Disease Outbreaks

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Health Workforce Strategies in Response to Major Health Events: A Rapid Scoping Review with Lessons Learned for the Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic

10.21203/rs.3.rs-1020510/v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Alison Coates ◽

Asli Oubah Fuad ◽

Amanda Hodgson ◽

Ivy Lynn Bourgeault

Keyword(s):

Infectious Disease ◽

Scoping Review ◽

Health Workforce ◽

Health Workers ◽

Disease Outbreaks ◽

Extreme Weather Events ◽

Infectious Disease Outbreaks ◽

Weather Events ◽

Workforce Capacity ◽

Workforce Strategies

Abstract Background: The early weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic brought multiple concurrent threats – high patient volume and acuity and, simultaneously, increased risk to health workers. Healthcare managers and decision-makers needed to identify strategies to mitigate these adverse conditions. This paper reports on the health workforce strategies implemented in relation to past large-scale emergencies (including natural disasters, extreme weather events, and infectious disease outbreaks).Methods: We conducted a rapid scoping review of health workforce responses to natural disasters, extreme weather events, and infectious disease outbreaks reported in the literature between January 2000 and April 2020. The 3582 individual results were screened to include articles which described surge responses to past emergencies for which an evaluative component was included in the report. A total of 37 articles were included in our analysis.Results: The reviewed literature describes challenges related to increased demand for health services and a simultaneous decrease in the availability of the workforce. Many articles also described impacts on infrastructure that hindered emergency response. These challenges aligned well with those faced during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the published literature, the workforce strategies that were described aimed either to increase the numbers of health workers in a given area, to increase the flexibility of the health workforce to meet needs in new ways, or to support and sustain health workers in practice. Workforce responses addressed all types and cadres of health workers and were executed in a wide range of settings. We additionally report on the barriers and facilitators of workforce strategies reported in the literature reviewed. The strategies that were reported in the literature aligned closely with our COVID-specific conceptual framework of workforce capacity levers, suggesting that our framework may have heuristic value across many types of health disasters.Conclusions: This research highlights a key deficiency with the existing literature on workforce responses to emergencies: most papers lack substantive evaluation of the strategies implemented. Future research on health workforce capacity interventions should include robust evaluation of impact and effectiveness.

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Vulnerability assessment tools for infectious threats and antimicrobial resistance: a scoping review protocol

BMJ Open ◽

10.1136/bmjopen-2019-031944 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 9 (11) ◽

pp. e031944 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Maren Jeleff ◽

Lisa Lehner ◽

Tamara Giles-Vernick ◽

Michel L.A. Dückers ◽

A. David Napier ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Infectious Disease ◽

Antimicrobial Resistance ◽

Scoping Review ◽

Vulnerability Assessment ◽

Disease Outbreaks ◽

Assessment Tools ◽

Infectious Disease Outbreaks ◽

Increased Risk ◽

Scoping Reviews ◽

Human Animal

IntroductionThis protocol will guide and explain the working process of a systematic scoping review on vulnerability assessment tools in the field of infectious disease outbreaks and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) crises. The scoping review will appraise existing tools or methodologies to identify local level vulnerabilities in the context of infectious disease outbreaks and AMR. Due to this focus on infectious threats and AMR, the review also considers articles using a ‘One Health’ approach to assess the vulnerability of individuals, groups and practices in human–animal–environment interactions. Given the broad nature of vulnerability, we aim to allocate studies discerning the process of identifying vulnerable or at-risk groups during a crisis, instead of studies taking vulnerability only as a starting point. Because considerable research has been conducted on vulnerability, disasters and climate change, we will also assemble tools developed from these fields. To our knowledge, this is the first planned systematic scoping review of vulnerability assessment tools for disease outbreaks and AMR, taking into account practices at the human–animal–environment interface that can lead to increased risk of exposure of individuals to infections, pathogen spillovers or epidemics.Methods and analysisTo develop the protocol, we used the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Protocols checklist (PRISMA-P 2015) in compliance with the PRISMA Extension for Scoping Reviews Explanation and Elaboration. With the assistance of an experienced research librarian, we developed the search strategy, which targeted the following databases: Medline, Global Health database, Web of Science and Embase. A second strategy was developed for Epistemonikos, African Journals Online and Global Index Medicus because these databases do not provide the infrastructure for an advanced search. We consider studies published between 1978 and 2019 and include articles, book chapters, websites and grey literature from selected non-governmental organisations and non-profit organisations working in the health field. We contact them directly regarding whether they are working with or have developed a vulnerability assessment tool. To address the dynamic nature of our investigation, we develop a flow diagram which we continually update to reflect the selection process. Two reviewers (MJ and LL) independently screen the literature and resolve conflicts through discussion rounds. Data extraction will be conducted by four researchers (MJ, LL, EJ and RK) through inductive and deductive coding. Extracted data will be systematically compared and divergences highlighted.Ethics and disseminationEthical approval is not required because this study does not involve collection of primary data. The purpose of this review is to disseminate a catalogue of vulnerability assessment tools and a brief summary of key results and recommendations for SoNAR-Global partners in Bangladesh, Ukraine and Uganda. The catalogue will be made publicly available. On the basis of our results, SoNAR-Global partners will pilot one of these tools.

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Mass testing equity during infectious disease outbreaks: a scoping review. v2 (protocols.io.bivske6e)

protocols.io ◽

10.17504/protocols.io.bivske6e ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Katarina Ost ◽

Kate Zinszer ◽

Isadora Mathevet ◽

Lola Traverson ◽

Valery Ridde

Keyword(s):

Infectious Disease ◽

Scoping Review ◽

Disease Outbreaks ◽

Infectious Disease Outbreaks

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Health workforce strategies in response to major health events: a rapid scoping review with lessons learned for the response to the COVID-19 pandemic

Human Resources for Health ◽

10.1186/s12960-021-00698-6 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 19 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Alison Coates ◽

Asli-Oubah Fuad ◽

Amanda Hodgson ◽

Ivy Lynn Bourgeault

Keyword(s):

Infectious Disease ◽

Scoping Review ◽

Health Workforce ◽

Health Workers ◽

Disease Outbreaks ◽

Extreme Weather Events ◽

Infectious Disease Outbreaks ◽

Weather Events ◽

Workforce Capacity ◽

Workforce Strategies

Abstract Background The early weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic brought multiple concurrent threats—high patient volume and acuity and, simultaneously, increased risk to health workers. Healthcare managers and decision-makers needed to identify strategies to mitigate these adverse conditions. This paper reports on the health workforce strategies implemented in relation to past large-scale emergencies (including natural disasters, extreme weather events, and infectious disease outbreaks). Methods We conducted a rapid scoping review of health workforce responses to natural disasters, extreme weather events, and infectious disease outbreaks reported in the literature between January 2000 and April 2020. The 3582 individual results were screened to include articles which described surge responses to past emergencies for which an evaluative component was included in the report. A total of 37 articles were included in our analysis. Results The reviewed literature describes challenges related to increased demand for health services and a simultaneous decrease in the availability of the workforce. Many articles also described impacts on infrastructure that hindered emergency response. These challenges aligned well with those faced during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the published literature, the workforce strategies that were described aimed either to increase the numbers of health workers in a given area, to increase the flexibility of the health workforce to meet needs in new ways, or to support and sustain health workers in practice. Workforce responses addressed all types and cadres of health workers and were executed in a wide range of settings. We additionally report on the barriers and facilitators of workforce strategies reported in the literature reviewed. The strategies that were reported in the literature aligned closely with our COVID-specific conceptual framework of workforce capacity levers, suggesting that our framework may have heuristic value across many types of health disasters. Conclusions This research highlights a key deficiency with the existing literature on workforce responses to emergencies: most papers lack substantive evaluation of the strategies implemented. Future research on health workforce capacity interventions should include robust evaluation of impact and effectiveness.

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Infectious disease outbreaks in the African region: overview of events reported to the World Health Organization in 2018

Epidemiology and Infection ◽

10.1017/s0950268819001912 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 147 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

F. Mboussou ◽

P. Ndumbi ◽

R. Ngom ◽

Z. Kassamali ◽

O. Ogundiran ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Infectious Disease ◽

Disease Onset ◽

Disease Outbreaks ◽

Case Fatality ◽

World Health ◽

African Region ◽

Regional Office ◽

Member States ◽

Infectious Disease Outbreaks ◽

The World

Abstract The WHO African region is characterised by the largest infectious disease burden in the world. We conducted a retrospective descriptive analysis using records of all infectious disease outbreaks formally reported to the WHO in 2018 by Member States of the African region. We analysed the spatio-temporal distribution, the notification delay as well as the morbidity and mortality associated with these outbreaks. In 2018, 96 new disease outbreaks were reported across 36 of the 47 Member States. The most commonly reported disease outbreak was cholera which accounted for 20.8% (n = 20) of all events, followed by measles (n = 11, 11.5%) and Yellow fever (n = 7, 7.3%). About a quarter of the outbreaks (n = 23) were reported following signals detected through media monitoring conducted at the WHO regional office for Africa. The median delay between the disease onset and WHO notification was 16 days (range: 0–184). A total of 107 167 people were directly affected including 1221 deaths (mean case fatality ratio (CFR): 1.14% (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.07%–1.20%)). The highest CFR was observed for diseases targeted for eradication or elimination: 3.45% (95% CI 0.89%–10.45%). The African region remains prone to outbreaks of infectious diseases. It is therefore critical that Member States improve their capacities to rapidly detect, report and respond to public health events.

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