Journal of global health
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Journal of global health · Dec 2020
Healthcare worker attendance during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic: A longitudinal analysis of fingerprint-verified data from all public-sector secondary and tertiary care facilities in Bangladesh.
The COVID-19 pandemic has overwhelmed hospitals in several areas in high-income countries. An effective response to this pandemic requires health care workers (HCWs) to be present at work, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) where they are already in critically low supply. To inform whether and to what degree policymakers in Bangladesh, and LMICs more broadly, should expect a drop in HCW attendance as COVID-19 continues to spread, this study aims to determine how HCW attendance has changed during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic in Bangladesh. ⋯ After a year of significant improvements, HCWs' attendance levels among nurses and other health care staff (who form the majority of Bangladesh's health care workforce) have declined during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. This finding may portend an even greater decrease in attendance if COVID-19 continues to spread in Bangladesh. Policymakers in Bangladesh and similar LMICs should undertake major efforts to achieve high attendance levels among HCWs, particularly nurses, such as by providing sufficient personal protective equipment as well as monetary and non-monetary incentives.
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Journal of global health · Dec 2020
Influenza vaccination strategies for 2020-21 in the context of COVID-19.
Influenza vaccination prevents people from influenza-related diseases and thereby mitigates the burden on national health systems when COVID-19 circulates and public health measures controlling respiratory viral infections are relaxed. However, it is challenging to maintain influenza vaccine services as the COVID-19 pandemic has the potential to disrupt vaccination programmes in many countries during the 2020/21 winter. We summarise available recommendations and strategies on influenza vaccination, specifically the changes in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. ⋯ This review of influenza vaccination guidance and strategies should support strategy development on influenza vaccination in the context of COVID-19.
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Journal of global health · Dec 2020
Rapid response to the COVID-19 pandemic: Vietnam government's experience and preliminary success.
The COVID-19 pandemic has hit all corners of the world, challenging governments to act promptly in controlling the spread of the pandemic. Due to limited resources and inferior technological capacities, developing countries including Vietnam have faced many challenges in combating the pandemic. Since the first cases were detected on 23 January 2020, Vietnam has undergone a 3-month fierce battle to control the outbreak with stringent measures from the government to mitigate the adverse impacts. In this study, we aim to give insights into the Vietnamese government's progress during the first three months of the outbreak. Additionally, we relatively compare Vietnam's response with that of other Southeast Asia countries to deliver a clear and comprehensive view on disease control strategies. ⋯ Vietnam could be one of the role models in pandemic control for low-resource settings. As the pandemic is still ongoing in an unpredictable trajectory, disease control measures should continue to be put in place in the foreseeable short term.