scholarly journals Experiences and expectations regarding COVID-19 prevention and control measures among the hill tribe population of northern Thailand: a qualitative study

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Siwarak Kitchanapaibul ◽  
Anusorn Udplong ◽  
Tawatchai Apidechkul ◽  
Ratipark Tamornpark ◽  
Thanatchaporn Mulikaburt ◽  
...  

Abstract Background COVID-19 has been a major human threat for a year. A large number of people have been infected and killed globally, including hill tribe people living in remote and border areas between Thailand and Myanmar. Different expectations of and experiences with the implemented disease prevention and control measures by local, national and international organizations have been widely reported. This study aimed to understand the experiences and expectations regarding the disease prevention and control measures that were implemented among hill tribe people in Thailand. Methods Qualitative data were collected from participants aged 20 and older who belonged to the hill tribes living on the border of northern Thailand and Myanmar. A semistructured questionnaire was used to guide interviews. Information was extracted for thematic analysis by the NVivo program. Results Fifty-seven participants (36 female, 21 male) were interviewed; 27 participants were Thai Yai, 14 participants were Yunnan Chinese, 8 participants were Akha, and 8 participants were from other tribes. The average age was 45.8 years (min = 20 years, max = 90 years). Thirty participants had never attended school, and the other 27 participants had received education at different levels, from primary school to higher education. Forty participants were unemployed, 13 worked as agriculturists, and the other 4 were attending school. Both positive experiences, such as improving personal hygiene practices, maintaining close contact and increasing relationships among family members and demonstrating the leadership of the villager leaders, and negative experiences, including interruption of social interactions, family financial problems, poor access to medical care services, and invisible people to the government, were found. Different expectations were observed regarding organizations at the local, national, and international levels. Expectations at the local level included villagers and community leaders taking action to strongly contribute to prevention and control measures and to prevent unscreened people from entering the village. Obtaining accurate information about the disease and being financially supported were expectations at the national level, while closing borders to protect cases from overflowing into their villages was an international-level expectation. Conclusion Although hill tribes reside in very remote rural areas, they experience both positive and negative effects of the disease prevention and control measures implemented by organizations. Their expectations are formally and informally voiced to policy makers at the local, national and international levels.

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (6) ◽  
pp. e0252326
Author(s):  
Soontaree Suratana ◽  
Ratipark Tamornpark ◽  
Tawatchai Apidechkul ◽  
Peeradone Srichan ◽  
Thanatchaporn Mulikaburt ◽  
...  

Background COVID-19 has exerted a variety of impacts on people, particularly people with limited education living in poor economic settings. This study investigates the impacts of and adaptations to COVID-19 among the hill tribe people of northern Thailand. Methods A qualitative method was used to elicit information from key informants who lived in a hill tribe village in Mae Fah Laung district, Chiang Rai Province, Thailand. Fourteen questions on two issues were used to gather information, and an NVivo program was used to extract the findings. Results A total of 57 hill tribe villagers participated, including 36 females and 21 males (mean age of 50.1 years, min = 20 and max = 90). Twenty-seven individuals were Thai Yai, 14 were Yunan Chinese, eight were Akha, and eight were members of other minor tribes. Regarding education and occupation, 30 individuals were illiterate, while 27 had attended different levels of primary school; 40 individuals were unemployed, 13 were employed as daily wage workers and farmers, and the other 4 were attending school. Three age categories were used to assess the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic: impact of access to the educational system among the young, loss of jobs and family financial problems among the working, and access to medical care for the elderly. Six adaptation stages in response to the COVID-19 crisis were observed among the hill tribe people: shock stage with no prior experience, looking for help from health and other agencies, considering the national lockdown policy, complying with prevention and control measures, reducing stressful situations and following the new normal approach, and addressing suffering points at home and elsewhere. Conclusions The COVID-19 pandemic has exerted different impacts on different age categories among the hill tribe population living in remote and border areas. Effective adaptations have been implemented to address the new normal life under the disease, and six adaptation stages have been identified that have helped them survive the greatest threat to humankind today.


Author(s):  
Y. Arockia Suganthi ◽  
Chitra K. ◽  
J. Magelin Mary

Dengue fever is a painful mosquito-borne infection caused by different types of virus in various localities of the world. There is no particular medicine or vaccine to treat person suffering from dengue fever. Dengue viruses are transmitted by the bite of female Aedes (Ae) mosquitoes. Dengue fever viruses are mainly transmitted by Aedes which can be active in tropical or subtropical climates. Aedes Aegypti is the key step to avoid infection transmission to save millions of people in all over the world. This paper provides a standard guideline in the planning of dengue prevention and control measures. At the same time gives the priorities including clinical management and hospitalized dengue patients have to address essentially.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qiangsheng Huang

BACKGROUND As of the end of February 2020, 2019-nCoV is currently well controlled in China. However, the virus is now spreading globally. OBJECTIVE This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of outbreak prevention and control measures in a region. METHODS A model is built for find the best fit for two sets of data (the number of daily new diagnosed, and the risk value of incoming immigration population). The parameters (offset and time window) in the model can be used as the evaluation of effectiveness of outbreak prevention and control. RESULTS Through study, it is found that the parameter offset and time window in the model can accurately reflect the prevention effectiveness. Some related data and public news confirm this result. And this method has advantages over the method using R0 in two aspects. CONCLUSIONS If the epidemic situation is well controlled, the virus is not terrible. Now the daily new diagnosed patients in most regions of China is quickly reduced to zero or close to zero. Chinese can do a good job in the face of huge epidemic pressure. Therefore, if other countries can do well in prevention and control, the epidemic in those places can also pass quickly.


Genes ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 383
Author(s):  
Aornpriya Mawan ◽  
Nonglak Prakhun ◽  
Kanha Muisuk ◽  
Suparat Srithawong ◽  
Metawee Srikummool ◽  
...  

The hill tribes of northern Thailand comprise nine officially recognized groups: the Austroasiatic-speaking (AA) Khmu, Htin and Lawa; the Hmong-Mien-speaking (HM) IuMien and Hmong; and the Sino-Tibetan-speaking (ST) Akha, Karen, Lahu and Lisu. Except the Lawa, the rest of the hill tribes migrated into their present habitats only very recently. The Thai hill tribes were of much interest to research groups focusing on study of cultural and genetic variation because of their unique languages and cultures. So far, there have been several genetic studies of the Thai hill tribes. However, complete forensic microsatellite database of the Thai hill tribes is still lacking. To construct such database, we newly generated 654 genotypes of 15 microsatellites commonly used in forensic investigation that belong to all the nine hill tribes and also non-hill tribe highlanders from northern Thailand. We also combined 329 genotypes from previous studies of northern Thai populations bringing to a total of 983 genotypes, which were then subjected to genetic structure and population relationships analyses. Our overall results indicated homogenous genetic structure within the HM- and Tai-Kadai (TK)-speaking groups, large genetic divergence of the HM-speaking Hmong but not IuMien from the other Thai groups, and genetic heterogeneity within the ST- and AA-speaking groups, reflecting different population interactions and admixtures. In addition to establishing genetic relationships within and among these populations, our finding, which provides a more complete picture of the forensic microsatellite database of the multiple Thai highland dwellers, would not only serve to expand and strengthen forensic investigation in Thailand, but would also benefit its neighboring countries of Laos and Myanmar, from which many of the Thai hill tribes originated and where large populations of these ethnic groups still reside.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Qing Cheng ◽  
Zeyi Liu ◽  
Guangquan Cheng ◽  
Jincai Huang

AbstractBeginning on December 31, 2019, the large-scale novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) emerged in China. Tracking and analysing the heterogeneity and effectiveness of cities’ prevention and control of the COVID-19 epidemic is essential to design and adjust epidemic prevention and control measures. The number of newly confirmed cases in 25 of China’s most-affected cities for the COVID-19 epidemic from January 11 to February 10 was collected. The heterogeneity and effectiveness of these 25 cities’ prevention and control measures for COVID-19 were analysed by using an estimated time-varying reproduction number method and a serial correlation method. The results showed that the effective reproduction number (R) in 25 cities showed a downward trend overall, but there was a significant difference in the R change trends among cities, indicating that there was heterogeneity in the spread and control of COVID-19 in cities. Moreover, the COVID-19 control in 21 of 25 cities was effective, and the risk of infection decreased because their R had dropped below 1 by February 10, 2020. In contrast, the cities of Wuhan, Tianmen, Ezhou and Enshi still had difficulty effectively controlling the COVID-19 epidemic in a short period of time because their R was greater than 1.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rapeephan R. Maude ◽  
Monnaphat Jongdeepaisal ◽  
Sumawadee Skuntaniyom ◽  
Thanomvong Muntajit ◽  
Stuart D. Blacksell ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Key infection prevention and control measures to limit transmission of COVID-19 include social distancing, hand hygiene, use of facemasks and personal protective equipment. However, these have limited or no impact if not applied correctly through lack of knowledge, inappropriate attitude or incorrect practice. In order to maximise the impact of infection prevention and control measures on COVID-19 spread, we undertook a study to assess and improve knowledge, attitudes and practice among 119 healthcare workers and 100 general public in Thailand. The study setting was two inpatient hospitals providing COVID-19 testing and treatment. Detailed information on knowledge, attitudes and practice among the general public and healthcare workers regarding COVID-19 transmission and its prevention were obtained from a combination of questionnaires and observations. Results Knowledge of the main transmission routes, commonest symptoms and recommended prevention methods was mostly very high (> 80%) in both groups. There was lower awareness of aerosols, food and drink and pets as sources of transmission; of the correct duration for handwashing; recommended distance for social/physical distancing; and about recommended types of face coverings. Information sources most used and most trusted were the workplace, work colleagues, health workers and television. The results were used to produce a set of targeted educational videos which addressed many of these gaps with subsequent improvements on retesting in a number of areas. This included improvements in handwashing practice with an increase in the number of areas correctly washed in 65.5% of the public, and 57.9% of healthcare workers. The videos were then further optimized with feedback from participants followed by another round of retesting. Conclusions Detailed information on gaps in knowledge, attitudes and practice among the general public and healthcare workers regarding COVID-19 transmission and its prevention were obtained from a combination of questionnaires and observations. This was used to produce targeted educational videos which addressed these gaps with subsequent improvements on retesting. The resulting videos were then disseminated as a resource to aid in efforts to fight COVID-19 in Thailand and worldwide.


Author(s):  
Yun-Jung Kang

Abstract As of 25 July 2021, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency reported 1,422 new COVID-19 cases, 188,848 total cases, and 2.073 total deaths (1.10% fatality rates). Since the first SARS-CoV-2 case was reported, efforts to find a treatment and vaccine against COVID-19 have been widespread. Four vaccines are on the WHO’s emergency use listing and are approved of their usage; BNT162b2, mRNA-1273, AZD1222, and Ad26.COV2.S. Vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 need at least 14 days to achieve effectiveness. Thus, people should abide by prevention and control measures, including wearing masks, washing hands, and social distancing. However, a lot of new cases were reported after vaccinations, as many people did not follow the prevention control measures before the end of the 14 days period. There is no doubt we need to break free from mask mandates. But let us not decide the timing in haste. Even if the mask mandates are eased, they should be changed depending on the number of reported cases, vaccinations, as well as prevention and control measures on how circumstances are changing under the influence of mutant coronavirus.


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