ABSTRACT
The SARS-CoV-2 outbreak has spread rapidly into many countries, affecting millions of people worldwide and shak-ing up the provision of healthcare services. Although, internationally, primary health care (PHC) should be consid-ered a pillar in the management of health emergencies, its role in tackling the current pandemic has not yet been clarified. The special responsibilities of PHC emerging directly from the COVID-19 pandemic include identification and early isolation of suspected and confirmed cases, aggressive tracking of their contacts, initial treatment accord-ing to guidelines and protocols, close and frequent monitoring of the condition of patients who are in home confine-ment, and vaccination of the population. PHC responsibilities that are not directly related to the COVID-19 pandemic include the management of patients with chronic diseases, treatment of other life-threatening health conditions, epidemiological surveillance of pre-existing infections, and continuation of preventive practices, such as screening tests for cancer. In order for the PHC system to cope with its crucial role in the effective management of the pandem-ic, it is necessary to have adequate funding, and full staffing with specialized and appropriately trained healthcare personnel. Assessment of the population health needs is a crucial activity of PHC, with emphasis on socially vulnera-ble groups, to ensure that the entire population has equal access to high quality, safe and efficient care services, not only during the current, but also in the event of future epidemics. Copyright © Athens Medical Society.
ABSTRACT
Regular physical activity and a healthy balanced diet are associated with multiple benefits for the physical, mental and social health of the population and they contribute decisively to the prevention and treatment of various dis-eases. There appears to be a systematic sidelining of physical activity worldwide, however, since more than one quarter of the adult population is physically inactive. At the same time, a shift towards unhealthy eating habits has taken place, turning obesity into a modern scourge. In order to address this modern challenge of insufficient physical activity and increasing rates of obesity, it will be necessary to design and implement sustainable public health policies and actions. Informing and educating citizens through appropriate awareness-raising activities, improving the health literacy and digital health literacy of the population, and establishing scientifically documented guidelines and practical recommendations may all contribute to making good health decisions and strengthening active participation in healthy activities, especially in vulnerable social groups. In an uncertain and constantly changing land-scape posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, effective examples of public health actions to promote a healthy life style include the creation of health promotion schools, the use of workplaces as a framework for promoting healthy living, the development of urban green spaces and the regulation of the food industry, combined with a fight against deeply-established social health inequalities. © Athens Medical Society.
ABSTRACT
Historically, major public health issues, such as the current COVID-19 pandemic, trigger abruptHistorically, major public health issues, such as the current COVID-19 pandemic, trigger abruptand radical changes in daily life, thus causing severe psychological distress to the population.The ease with which the virus seems to be transmitted, combined with the exponentiallyrising number of new cases and the social distancing measures applied, create an atmosphereof fear and alarm. This, in turn, has a pivotal effect on the population's mental health. The aimof this study is to initially investigate the psychological effects of the new COVID-19 pandemic onsecondary school teachers, who in addition to the general aggravation take on the burden of forcedabstinence from their regular work duties and the simultaneous need to adapt themselves to the unprecedentedprocess of distance learning. This is a cross-sectional study in secondary school teachersand was conducted using simple random sampling at the beginning of the pandemic in Greece. Thex2 test was used to examine associations between psychological and other variables. 34% of teacherswere found to feel anxious and very anxious during the pandemic, while only 8% of teachers exhibitsevere depressive emotions. It is also clear that the educators as a professional group are predominantlypossessed by optimism about the outcome of the pandemic, as 71.5% was placed in the higherlevels of the relevant scale. Female gender was found to have a positive correlation to feelings of fear,depression, and a negative correlation to optimism. Furthermore, a negative correlation between theteachers' high educational level and their feelings of optimism emerged from the data. This optimismmay well be related with the large acceptance of the measures taken by the government to curb theexpansion of the pandemic. Finally, it was found that distance teaching, which was abruptly and unpreparedlyimplemented by educators on account of the pandemic, was not a major concern. Thefindings of our study indicate a specific profile of secondary school teachers characterized by mentalresilience, a quality that must be exploited and strengthened by the state with appropriate interventionsin order to maximize their complex, creative work.