scholarly journals Psychosocial Effects and Public Health Challenges of COVID-19 Pandemic in India

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shankar Das ◽  
Julie Richards

The COVID-19 pandemic is an ongoing global crisis that poses enormous and multifarious challenges to humanity since the end of 2019. The pandemic has severely devastated public health systems and universally affected socio-economic development. India is among the worst-hit nations owing to its massive population of 1.35 billion, and more significant socio-economic challenges than most other countries. Despite the current issues and challenges surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, India has been making targeted efforts towards the fight against the spread of coronavirus, including medical, treatment, vaccination, community prevention and control strategies. The chapter examines the implications of the pandemic on Indian population which have certain unique challenges than other parts of the world. It delves on the gradual progression of the challenges among people especially the vulnerable and the disadvantaged in the existing public health systems. This chapter encompasses a wide array of human suffering and efforts for its mitigation. It highlights and brings to forefront the unique experiences of diverse populations who have faced a crisis within a crisis and its psychosocial ramifications, as well as the psychosocial adversities and public health challenges.

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiong He ◽  
Chunshan Zhou ◽  
Yuqu Wang ◽  
Xiaodie Yuan

COVID-19 is a highly infectious disease and public health hazard that has been wreaking havoc around the world; thus, assessing and simulating the risk of the current pandemic is crucial to its management and prevention. The severe situation of COVID-19 around the world cannot be ignored, and there are signs of a second outbreak; therefore, the accurate assessment and prediction of COVID-19 risks, as well as the prevention and control of COVID-19, will remain the top priority of major public health agencies for the foreseeable future. In this study, the risk of the epidemic in Guangzhou was first assessed through logistic regression (LR) on the basis of Tencent-migration data and urban point of interest (POI) data, and then the regional distribution of high- and low-risk epidemic outbreaks in Guangzhou in February 2021 was predicted. The main factors affecting the distribution of the epidemic were also analyzed by using geographical detectors. The results show that the number of cases mainly exhibited a declining and then increasing trend in 2020, and the high-risk areas were concentrated in areas with resident populations and floating populations. In addition, in February 2021, the “Spring Festival travel rush” in China was predicted to be the peak period of population movement. The epidemic risk value was also predicted to reach its highest level at external transportation stations, such as Baiyun Airport and Guangzhou South Railway Station. The accuracy verification showed that the prediction accuracy exceeded 99%. Finally, the interaction between the resident population and floating population could explain the risk of COVID-19 to the highest degree, which indicates that the effective control of population agglomeration and interaction is conducive to the prevention and control of COVID-19. This study identifies and predicts high-risk areas of the epidemic, which has important practical value for urban public health prevention and control and containment of the second outbreak of COVID-19.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Blanchard ◽  
Reynold Washington ◽  
Marissa Becker ◽  
N Vasanthakumar ◽  
K Madan Gopal ◽  
...  

NITI Aayog’s mandate is to provide strategic directions to the various sectors of the Indian economy. In line with this mandate, the Health Vertical released a set of four working papers compiled in a volume entitled ‘Health Systems for New India: Building Blocks – Potential Pathways to Reform’ during November 2019. “India’s Public Health Surveillance by 2035” is a continuation of the work on Health Systems Strengthening. It contributes by suggesting mainstreaming of surveillance by making individual electronic health records the basis for surveillance.Public Health Surveillance (PHS) cuts across primary, secondary, and tertiary levels of care. Surveillance is an important Public Health function. It is an essential action for disease detection, prevention, and control. Surveillance is ‘Information for Action’. This paper is a joint effort of the Health vertical, NITI Aayog, and the Institute for Global Public Health, University of Manitoba, Canada, with contributions from technical experts from the Government of India, States, and International agencies. In 2035, • India’s Public Health Surveillance will be a predictive, responsive, integrated, and tiered system of disease and health surveillance that is inclusive of Prioritised, emerging, and re-emerging communicable and non-communicable diseases and conditions. • Surveillance will be primarily based on de-identified (anonymised) individual-level patient information that emanates from health care facilities, laboratories, and other sources. • Public Health Surveillance will be governed by an adequately resourced effective administrative and technical structure and will ensure that it serves the public good. • India will provide regional and global leadership in managing events that constitute a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. Multiple disease outbreaks have prompted India to proactively respond with prevention and control measures. These actions are based on information from public health surveillance. India was able to achieve many successes in the past. Smallpox was eradicated and polio was eliminated. India has been able to reduce HIV incidence and deaths and advance and accelerate TB elimination efforts. Many outbreaks of vector-borne diseases, acute encephalitis syndromes, acute febrile illnesses, diarrhoeal and respiratory diseases have been promptly detected, identified and managed. These successes are a result of effective community-based, facility-based, and health system-based surveillance. The program response involved multiple sectors, including public and private health care systems and civil society.


Public Health ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ellen Whitney ◽  
Katherine Seib ◽  
Jessica Blackburn ◽  
Jacob Clemente ◽  
Courtenay M. Dusenbury ◽  
...  

More than one hundred countries around the world have established national public health institutes (NPHIs) to coordinate and lead their public health systems. Some NPHIs, such as the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), South African National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), Brazilian Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (FIOCRUZ), and Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, have developed over time. Others, such as the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), emanated in response to more recent global public health threats like severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). NPHI functionalities range from combatting primarily infectious diseases to comprehensive mandates to lead national efforts for prevention and control of both infectious and noncommunicable disease threats. The International Association of National Public Health Institutes (IANPHI), envisioned in 2001 and chartered in 2006, serves to link and catalyze the capacity of NPHIs around the world through a robust international professional and scientific network. IANPHI works closely with the World Health Organization (WHO) through a formal partnership agreement. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, member dues and peer assistance, bilateral cooperative agreements, and private-sector partnerships support its activities. IANPHI’s members encompass more than five billion people across six continents. IANPHI is the only organization whose mission is to strengthen national public health institutes. To do this, IANPHI’s work focuses on (a) supporting a robust scientific community of NPHI directors through an annual meeting, a listserv, and collaborative activities; (b) developing and distributing guidelines and tools that strengthen NPHIs’ abilities to conduct and evaluate public health programs and efforts, including the IANPHI NPHI development framework, the Staged Development Tool, NPHI-to-NPHI evaluation guidance, and a best practices series; and (c) investing in projects designed to create NPHIs and strengthen public health systems in low-resource countries. IANPHI helps NPHIs by advocating for strong and well-supported NPHIs and providing timely information and insights for public health programs and actions.


2020 ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Addis Adera Gebru ◽  
Tadesse Birhanu ◽  
Eshetu Wendimu ◽  
Agumas Fentahun Ayalew ◽  
Selamawit Mulat ◽  
...  

BACKGROUND: The novel Coronavirus Diseases 2019 (COVID-19) is the major public health burden in the world. The morbidity and mortality of global community due to this disease is dramatically increasing from time to time. OBJECTIVE: This situational analysis is aimed to analysis prevalence, and incidence of COVID-19 and to provide clear information about this disease for the scientific community, stakeholders and healthcare practitioners and decision-makers. METHODS: The literatures were identified by searching the key relevant and officially known online databases: medRxiv, Google scholar and PubMed. The online databases contain archives of most English biomedical journals and scientific papers published online from 31 December to 3 April 2020 were included. After the literature search, articles were screened independently by two reviewers for eligibility. RESULTS: The world continents have confirmed a total of 1,202,320 confirmed COVID-19 cases: (51.2%) in Europe, (27.7%) in North America, (17.9%) in Asia, (1.96%) in South America and at less number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Africa and Australia which was accounted 0.8% and 0.5%, respectively. However, this review showed that there was significantly increased the confirmed COVID-19 cases by 109,555 in Asia, 8,658 in Africa, 332,866 in North America, 20,269 in South America, 568,894 in Europe, 5,051 in Australia and 1,045,403 in the whole world continent except Antarctica during the review period. The overall results showed that there were 1,098,762 cases and 59,172 deaths have recorded from during the review period. The result zero number of deaths with COVID-19 was observed in 66 countries. CONCLUSION: The review concluded that COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2 is the major public health burden in the world, the morbidity and mortality of global community is dramatically increasing from time to time. Strongly collaboration among all sectors and then design effective prevention and control strategies which include staying home, social/physical distancing, quarantine, testing of suspected patients, isolation and managing of the confirmed cases. Therefore, the world continents countries should have to implement five major COVID-19 prevention and control programmes as soon as possible at community level.


Author(s):  
C.M.E. McCrindle

This 28th annual volume published by the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), addresses the need for a global shift in the way veterinary students are taught veterinary public health (VPH). As well as taking the lead in prevention and control of animal diseases, the OIE develops health and welfare standards to promote food security and equitable international trade in animals and animal products.


2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
S Latif

Abstract Background The UK Faculty of Public Health (FPH) is a world leader in developing a dynamic competency-based curriculum and delivering high quality training and professional development of a multidisciplinary public health specialist workforce in the UK. This includes capacity building and shaping tomorrow's public health leaders. Objectives Strong Leadership is increasingly the need of the day to deal with the complex public health challenges in a rapidly evolving and shifting global landscape. Can a public health curriculum and training (like that of the FPH) provide the framework for the knowledge, skills, attitudes and behaviours required for producing world class public health systems leaders? Body of the session Key principles of developing systems leadership include providing an enabling environment, developing the right skill mix, acquiring relevant knowledge, framing placements with experienced supervision and appropriate coaching and mentoring are some of the elements built into the training opportunities for public health registrars, their supervisors and new consultants. This presentation will give an overview of some lessons in public health leadership, the skills and knowledge base required to perform effectively as a public health systems leader and explore some of the challenges faced by the world of public health. The panel will encourage interactive discussion to share the learning from other countries and systems required to develop the next generation of public health leaders. Conclusions Public health, of all specialties, lends itself best to lead across and beyond organisational boundaries, lead without authority and create change whilst not being in charge. It is imperative that systems are put in place to train, develop and build public health leaders for tomorrow.


Viruses ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (12) ◽  
pp. 2405
Author(s):  
Carlos A. Sariol ◽  
Crisanta Serrano-Collazo ◽  
Edwin J. Ortiz ◽  
Petraleigh Pantoja ◽  
Lorna Cruz ◽  
...  

The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has impacted public health systems all over the world. The Delta variant seems to possess enhanced transmissibility, but no clear evidence suggests it has increased virulence. Our data show that pre-exposed individuals had similar neutralizing activity against the authentic COVID-19 strain and the Delta and Epsilon variants. After only one vaccine dose, the neutralization capacity expanded to all tested variants in pre-exposed individuals. Healthy vaccinated individuals showed a limited breadth of neutralization. One vaccine dose did induce similar neutralizing antibodies against the Delta as against the authentic strain. However, even after two doses, this capacity only expanded to the Epsilon variant.


Author(s):  
Yingze Zhao ◽  
Dong Jiang ◽  
Fangyu Ding ◽  
Mengmeng Hao ◽  
Qian Wang ◽  
...  

Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is an important vector-borne zoonosis caused by Leishmania spp. that has been spreading in China. It has been posing a significant risk to public health in central China due to its recurrence in recent decades. Yet, the spatiotemporal patterns and the driving factors of VL in central China remain unclear at present. The purpose of this study was to analyse spatiotemporal distribution, explore driving factors, and provide novel insight into prevention and control countermeasures of the VL spreading in central China. Based on data of human VL cases from 2006 to 2019 obtained from the Chinese Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), we depicted the map showing the spatiotemporal distribution of VL in central China. We further explored the driving factors contributing to the spread of VL through the general additive model (GAM) by combining maps of environmental, meteorological, and socioeconomic correlates. Most VL cases were reported in Shaanxi and Shanxi provinces, the number of which has been increasing every year in the last 14 years, from 3 new cases in 2006 to 101 new cases in 2019. The results of GAM revealed that environmental (i.e., changes in grasslands/forests), meteorological (i.e., temperature and relative humidity), and socioeconomic (i.e., population density) factors are significantly associated with the prevalence of VL in central China. Our results provide a better understanding regarding the current situation and the driving factors of VL in central China, assisting in developing the disease prevention and control strategies implemented by public health authorities.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emma Seery ◽  
Anna Marriott ◽  
Katie Malouf Bous ◽  
Rebecca Shadwick

COVID-19 has exposed the widespread failure to invest in strong and universal public health systems, putting millions of lives at risk and dramatically widening health inequalities. Oxfam analysed the World Bank’s emergency health funding to 71 countries in response to the pandemic. While its response has been rapid and significant, Oxfam finds that the World Bank has missed vital opportunities to strengthen public health systems so they can tackle COVID-19 and deliver health for all in the future. The research outlined in this briefing finds that 89% of World Bank projects do not plan to support any action to remove financial barriers, including user fees, that exclude millions from life-saving care; and two-thirds lack any plans to increase the number of healthcare workers. An urgent course correction is needed to help countries effectively fight the pandemic and build fairer, more resilient universal healthcare systems.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-25
Author(s):  
Xiezhong CHENG

As a previously unknown virus, the spread of the coronavirus challenged not only medical science and public health systems, but also public governance in all countries. In order to tackle the COVID-19 crisis in China, public authorities at various levels have issued a large number of measures that have no legally binding force, but produce practical effects. A closer look at selected COVID-19 measures in China shows that both the advantages and drawbacks of soft law are brought to the fore by the pandemic. This contribution, focusing on Chinese experiences with COVID-19 soft law, argues that the lack of legal bindingness and consequently of legal enforcement does not make soft law measures ineffective. On the contrary, these “defects” ease the adoption of soft law and ensure its availability to both public authorities and citizens, hence increasing its effectiveness in combating the pandemic. Yet problems remain in realising participatory possibilities and ensuring respect for legality.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document