Omondi John Eden
A phenomenon that is sweeping across the globe, a situation that is moving so rapidly that people everywhere are wondering what can be done to stop the uninvited potentially deadly coronavirus known as COVID-19.
Covid-19 has spread incredibly fast and governments are taking unprecedented action by closing borders, quarantining large groups of people and rushing to develop a vaccine against the disease. Financial markets are plummeting, schools have been closed, large conferences cancelled and travel advisories announced. A general unease is blanketing the world and panic is setting in as people rush to buy hand sanitizers, face masks and other items they believe could protect them from coronavirus.
The pandemic caught many governments off guard and the situation calls for a thorough review of the past epidemics and pandemics in order to learn lessons by using successful cases as case histories relevant to our situation today.
1. Smallpox
The smallpox eradication efforts comprised of an international cooperation and is one of the most successful accomplishments in the global public health history. As the battle against COVID-19 rages on, many of the public health strategies namely disease surveillance, case finding, contact tracing and mass communication campaigns to create awareness used at that time could well be put to use in the current situation to flatten the curve. Another tool that played a crucial role in smallpox eradication is the vaccine hence the need to develop one through a concerted effort that would accelerate the process. Unlike what we are witnessing today with major powers blaming each other for being responsible for the spread and working in isolation instead of pulling resources together to curb the spread and find the vaccine.
2. Liberia’s Handling of Ebola
There is an urgent need to learn from the successful response to Ebola virus outbreak in Liberia and identify some best practices that could be applied to the current COVID-19 Pandemic and other diseases’ prevention, control and elimination programs.
First is the effective utilization of the existing school feeding programs to tackle the problem of early malnutrition that adversely affects physical, mental and social aspects of a child’s health leading to stunted growth, lowered immunity hence weak resistance to diseases.
The UNICEF in a report titled “Mitigating The Effects of COVID Pandemic on Food and Nutrition Of Schoolchildren”. Noted that lessons learnt from other epidemics like Ebola point to the efficacy of reallocation of food from the school feeding programs to the overall emerging response in order to assist vulnerable households cope with nutritional issues. This is yet another avenue that can be exploited by Health authorities to curb the infection rate. The Ellen Johnson Sirleaf administration is praised for having laid down protocols like the 3 months state of emergency, awareness creation, compulsory handwashing at all facilities and construction of treatment centres for early detection treatment and quarantine which were strictly adhered to.
These measures helped flatten the curve and by 1st June 2016, the WHO declared the country Ebola-free.
Personal leadership initiative like the one seen In Liberia remains elusive in the current fight against COVID-19 With most states handling the pandemic casually and the citizens outright disregard for the laid down protocols. This has been a catalyst for the rapid spread. Thus calling for self-discipline and a keen sense of responsibility on the part of the public.
3. India’s Polio Success.
India realized one of the biggest achievements in global public health and certified by the WHO as polio-free after a 3year period without an endemic case of polio. That was after 20years of fighting the disease. The success was as a result of a multi-sectoral effort that included teams from UNICEF, Rotary International, World Bank and Civil society. India consequently graduated from being a country where poliovirus remains endemic.
Leveraging Effective Partnerships.
The country is credited with using strategies like leveraging effective partnerships drawing multiple stakeholders Government agencies, development partners local CBOs for effective community mobilization campaigns and visibility. This approach involved incorporating religious and opinion leaders to counter divergent views should they arise and organize rallies, immunization camps and create awareness. This method can as well be replicated at this time to harness the efforts of the public and make the fight a responsibility for all. It makes the common man own the process.
Human resource capacity building.
This method proved successful as efforts were made to avail formal and informal training workshops for Community Health Workers since they were the first line of defence against the pandemic and the same should apply to the current pandemic. Many countries seem to disregard this important segment of the health workforce and this slows emergency response in remote areas since the government doesn’t have enough capacity to reach far-flung areas to arrest the situation. An effective community health workforce is needed to help with contact tracing efforts especially in hard to reach areas and this could turn out well in the fight against the pandemic at this time.
Targeted Communication
The Indian authorities exploited the opportunity offered by mass media to reach their targeted audience with appropriate messages, educational materials and posters. Interpersonal communication drawn from this strategy can be implemented in fighting COVID-19 and can be harnessed to dispel myths and misconceptions about vaccines by passing the right information that would lead to the mobilization of the masses to embrace and fast rack government efforts.
The above strategies can be well implemented when the global citizens come together and treat the current pandemic with the seriousness that it deserves with unity of purpose to defeat this monster that has crippled economies, changed our way of life and robbed us our freedoms socially. And I quote Russian President Vladimir Putin “In order to effectively combat the epidemic, we need to unite efforts rather than slap accusations against each other”.The world could get rid of the COVID-19 threat by solidarity rather than on the path of confrontation. He said. Courtesy of TASS News Agency.
Image Credit: medicalxpress.com
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