Healthcare Management During a Pandemic: The Other Side of the Coin for the Treatment of Covid-19 Infection

Author(s):  
Danila De Vito ◽  
Antonio Fusco ◽  
Caterina Benincasa ◽  
Luca Laghi ◽  
Francesco M. Ceruso

Background: World Health Organization (WHO) has increasingly improved the guidelines to tackle the spread of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) among the worldwide population. In this context, each country has introduced specific social, healthcare, political and macroeconomic measures to face COVID pandemic locally. Objective: The general aim of this comparative overview is to highlight the most significant effects of COVID-19 pandemic on the main healthcare systems. Also, we critically analyzed the macroeconomic variables and the most promising solutions to improve both healthcare system and its related risk management, taking into specific consideration the most industrialized countries. Method: The main strategy has been built on a renewed concept of the hospital, rebuilding the old concepts of “triage” and “intensive care”. Recently, COVID-19 hospitals have allowed to cater the patients affected by COVID-19. Moreover, the reshaping of several healthcare policies and requirements has led to several positive effects, such as the recruitment of a huge number of human resources in the healthcare systems. Nevertheless, several negative effects have also impacted the communities mostly subjected to infections. Conclusion: Undoubtedly, the national healthcare systems have somehow addressed the people’s needs, trying not to neglect the social, healthcare, economic and political aspects. In our overview, we have reported how the different actions taken in the last months, have resulted in different outcomes.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amina A. Kamar ◽  
Noel Maalouf ◽  
Eveline Hitti ◽  
Ghada El Eid ◽  
Hussain A Ismaeel ◽  
...  

Ever since the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the new coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) as a pandemic, there has been a public health debate concerning medical resources and supplies including hospital beds, intensive care units (ICU), ventilators, and Protective Personal Equipment (PPE). Forecasting COVID-19 dissemination has played a key role in informing healthcare professionals and governments on how to manage overburdened healthcare systems. However, forecasting during the pandemic remained challenging and sometimes highly controversial. Here, we highlight this challenge by performing a comparative evaluation for the estimations obtained from three COVID-19 surge calculators under different social distancing approaches, taking Lebanon as a case study. Despite discrepancies in estimations, the three surge calculators used herein agree that there will be a relative shortage in the capacity of medical resources and a significant surge in PPE demand as the social distancing policy is removed. Our results underscore the importance of implementing containment interventions including social distancing in alleviating the demand for medical care during the COVID-19 pandemic in the absence of any medication or vaccine. It is said that ″All models are wrong, but some are useful″, in this paper we highlight that it is even more useful to employ several models.  



2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Isaac Maldonado-Castellanos ◽  
Ignacio Mora-Magaña

In January 2020, Chinese scientists isolated a novel virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). On January 30th, The World Health Organization declared a Public Health Emergency. In March, Mexican Health Authorities announced the National Healthy Distance Campaign. This novel policy encourages residents of Mexico to stay at home during the social distancing stage to prevent the spread of the virus.The aim of this study was to evaluate the anxiety and the perception of risk of contagion through six weeks of follow-up during the National Healthy Distance Campaign in Mexico related to the COVID-19 epidemic. This study was empirical, exploratory and longitudinal. 27 Mexican people participated in the study, aged 18-59 years (M=35.4, SD=11.6). Two contextualized instruments were sent by email to participants to evaluate the anxiety levels and perception of risk of contagion for six weeks. Results indicate that anxiety levels were mild trough six weeks of follow-up. Likewise, results in the second survey indicate that perception of risk of contagion levels were moderate. For further studies on this subject, six hypotheses were developed regarding the following topics: content information and information overload, adaptation process, social perception of risk, preventive behaviors, and positive and negative effects of being social distanced.



Author(s):  
Dora Cardona Rivas ◽  
Militza Yulain Cardona Guzmán ◽  
Olga Lucía Ocampo López

Objective: To characterize the burden of intestinal infectious diseases attributable to drinking-water quality in 27 municipalities in the central region of Colombia. Materials and methods: A time-trend ecological study. The drinking-water quality of the National Institute of Health and the Institute of Hydrology, Meteorology and Environmental Studies was identified. The disease burden was calculated based on the mortality registered in the National Department of Statistics and the records of morbidity attended by the Social Protection Integrated Information System. The etiological agents reported in morbidity records and the observation of environmental conditions in the municipalities of the study were included. The disease burden was determined according to the methodology recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO).



Author(s):  
Gilberto Schwartsmann

Overview: Cancer is now the second leading cause of death in Brazil (after cardiovascular diseases) and a public health problem, with around 500,000 new cases in 2012. Excluding nonmelanoma skin cancer, lung cancer is the second most incident cancer type in men, with 17,210 expected new cases. In women, it is the fifth most incident cancer, with 10,110 expected new cases. The estimated age-adjusted lung cancer mortality rate is about 13/100,000 for men and 5.4/100,000 for women. Lung cancer rates in men increased until the early 1990s and decreased thereafter, especially in the younger population. In contrast, a steady upward trend was observed for women. The positive effects in men were probably due to the successful anti-tobacco campaign conducted in Brazil over the last decades, which led to a decrease in the adult smoking population, from 32% in the early 1980s to 17% in the 2000s. Although the Brazilian National Cancer Institute is strongly committed to providing excellence in multimodality care to cancer patients, limitations in availability and adequate geographic distribution of specialists and well-equipped cancer centers are evident. Major disparities in patient access to proper staging and state-of-the-art treatment still exist. Considering that World Health Organization (WHO) officials estimate that cancer will become the number one cause of death in most developing countries, including Brazil, in the next decades, it is highly recommended for government authorities to implement firm actions to face this tremendous challenge.



Work ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 67 (3) ◽  
pp. 523-527
Author(s):  
Maryam Feiz Arefi ◽  
Amin Babaei-Pouya ◽  
Mohsen Poursadeqiyan

BACKGROUND: Quarantine is considered as an effective solution in the early stages of an epidemic. In the case of the coronavirus epidemic, quarantine was also recommended and implemented as a significant guideline to prevent the disease. However, despite the benefits of quarantine, there are also complications and problems. OBJECTIVE: The present study aimed to investigate the health effects of quarantine during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: This study was conducted as a literature review through searching the databases Google Scholar, PubMed, and Science Direct for papers published before July 2020. The research was conducted based on the keywords “Coronavirus,” “COVID-19,” and “quarantine.” The references of the papers were also reviewed to find the ones not found in the databases. The guidelines published by reputable organizations such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) were used in this study. RESULTS: Although quarantine is applied as an important and primary solution in the outbreak of epidemics, in cases of pandemics, it may not be free of negative effects on individuals and public health. However, because of the need to reopen and restart social and economic activities, some changes should be made in lifestyles and work activities. Using cyberspace and telework can be helpful. As the findings showed, COVID-19 bubbles can be used to restore social communications. CONCLUSION: Using masks, avoiding unnecessary gatherings, complying with personal and social hygiene, and respecting social distancing can be valuable solutions that, if implemented properly, can decrease the rate of the disease significantly. It is also emphasized that quarantine is still necessary and important as the best solution for sick people and individuals who are suspected carriers of the disease.



2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 119-152 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maryam Nazzal ◽  
Samer Chinder

In Lebanon, the social connections are undeniable and crucial. However, meeting places remain private such as houses, restaurants, malls, and beach resorts. This is mainly due to the shortage of public spaces in Lebanon resulting from lack of planning, regulations and awareness around the right to the city and the importance of public spaces. In main cities where land prices are so expensive, common practice has prioritized the use of land in real estate development, thus trumping other uses such as public and communal spaces.In the late 1990s, Lebanon saw the emergence of malls, which have arguably acted as alternatives to public spaces. Malls, with their wealth of food courts, restaurants, cinemas, and play areas, have become the new downtown for a portion of the Lebanese population. They are also considered safe, which is another important factor.In 2015, the percentage of green spaces in Lebanon has decreased to less than 13%. While the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends a minimum of 9m2 of green space per capita (UN-HABITAT, 2016), Beirut has only 0.8m2.



The Autism Spectrum Disorder(ASD) are distinguished by persistent deficits in social communication and social interaction and restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior. Coronaviruses are an extremely common cause of colds and other upper respiratory infections. COVID-19, short for “coronavirus disease 2019”. The fast spread of the virus that causes COVID-19 has sparked alarm worldwide. The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared this rapidly spreading coronavirus outbreak a pandemic. Most of the countries around the world are adopting social distancing to slow the spread of coronavirus. There are several possible impacts of this pandemic on the daily lives of individuals with ASD, such as worsening of dysfunctional behaviors and regression of skills already acquired in different domains of development due to the social isolation. The objective of this article is to provide guidance to parents, health and education professionals that live or work with ASD individuals during the social isolation, on how to manage interventions that can be executed in the home environment, like remote training in language and social communication skills, behavioral strategies and sensory integration activities



PEDIATRICS ◽  
1953 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 88-95

The General Assembly, the Social Commission and the Economic and Social Council of the World Health Organization are to discuss the future of the United Nations' International Children's Emergency Fund during this year of 1953. Editorials have appeared in the press (New York Times, Apr. 6, 1953 and Chicago Daily Sun-Times, May 27, 1953) criticizing our government for not having paid U.N.I.C.E.F. its 1953 voluntary contribution of $9,814,000. A number of Fellows of the American Academy of Pediatrics have become concerned as to the plight in which U.N.I.C.E.F. finds itself and requested the matter be brought to the attention of the Executive Board at its meeting May 28-31, 1953 in Evanston. It was the opinion of the members contacting the Board that the work of the U.N.I.C.E.F. should be continued. The presence of this item on the agenda inspired the preparation of the enclosed resume of the evolution of W.H.O. and U.N.I.C.E.F. As the Executive Board found this information of value, they have suggested that it might be made available to other Fellows through publication in your section in Pediatrics. Our members may also be interested in the resolution passed by the Executive Board after deliberating on this subject.



2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Parente Costa

The research proposes a study of the social representations of leprosy, we seek three times to understand the sense of every society and their dynamics in relation to disease. The first in the city of Sobral/CE, where we carry out research in the years 2008 and 2009; the second moment in the city of Mogi das Cruzes/SP, with a man who has gone through several periods of hospitalization and overcame the stigma through work aimed at manufacture of prosthetic patients amputees; and the third time in New Delhi in India, where we find the largest number of leprosy patients. The places chosen for the field work were selected after repeated bibliographical research, readings of scholarly articles, medical texts and physicians about the disease and mainly with the data of the World Health Organization (WHO) and of the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE). We investigate the sociocultural reality of people afflicted by illness and how these could be with the disease.



Author(s):  
Rebecca McKnight ◽  
Jonathan Price ◽  
John Geddes

One in four individuals suffer from a psychiatric disorder at some point in their life, with 15– 20 per cent fitting cri­teria for a mental disorder at any given time. The latter corresponds to around 450 million people worldwide, placing mental disorders as one of the leading causes of global morbidity. Mental health problems represent five of the ten leading causes of disability worldwide. The World Health Organization (WHO) reported in mid 2016 that ‘the global cost of mental illness is £651 billion per year’, stating that the equivalent of 50 million working years was being lost annually due to mental disorders. The financial global impact is clearly vast, but on a smaller scale, the social and psychological impacts of having a mental dis­order on yourself or your family are greater still. It is often difficult for the general public and clin­icians outside psychiatry to think of mental health dis­orders as ‘diseases’ because it is harder to pinpoint a specific pathological cause for them. When confronted with this view, it is helpful to consider that most of medicine was actually founded on this basis. For ex­ample, although medicine has been a profession for the past 2500 years, it was only in the late 1980s that Helicobacter pylori was linked to gastric/ duodenal ul­cers and gastric carcinoma, or more recently still that the BRCA genes were found to be a cause of breast cancer. Still much of clinical medicine treats a patient’s symptoms rather than objective abnormalities. The WHO has given the following definition of mental health:… Mental health is defined as a state of well- being in which every individual realizes his or her own po­tential, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to her or his community.… This is a helpful definition, because it clearly defines a mental disorder as a condition that disrupts this state in any way, and sets clear goals of treatment for the clinician. It identifies the fact that a disruption of an individual’s mental health impacts negatively not only upon their enjoyment and ability to cope with life, but also upon that of the wider community.



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