Epidemiological intelligence community network intervention: a community response for COVID-19 community transmission.

BACKGROUND: Expanding and providing access to early detection of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) through testing community-based strategies among socially vulnerable communities (SVC) are critical to reducing health disparities. The Epidemiological Intelligence Community Network (EpI-Net) community-based intervention sought to increase coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) testing uptake and prevention practices among SVC in Puerto Rico (PR). We evaluated EpI-Net's community leaders' capacity-building component by assessing pre-post COVID-19 public health workshops' tests' score changes and satisfaction among trained community leaders. METHODS: A total of 24 community leaders from SVC in PR have completed four community workshops. Pre- and post-assessments were completed as part of the health promotors training program to evaluate participants' tests score changes and satisfaction outcomes. RESULTS: Preliminary results showed: (1) high intervention retention levels of community leaders (85.7% acceptance rate); (2) change in post-test scores for community engagement strategies (p = 0.012); (3) change in post-test educational scores in COVID-19 prevention practices (p = 0.014); and (4) a change in scores in public health emergency management strategies (p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The overall workshop satisfaction was 99.6%. Community leaders have shown the importance of community capacity building as a key component for intervention feasibility and impact. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Our study was retrospectively registered under the ClinicalTrial.gov ID NCT04910542.

Network governance as an alternative policy response to managing infectious disease outbreaks: Lessons from Uganda's response to the COVID-19 crisis

Network governance is commended as one of the appropriate approaches to manage infectious disease crises, but knowledge of its implementation is still limited especially in nondemocratic contexts. This study adopted a qualitative case study design using secondary evidence to review how Uganda used network governance to manage COVID-19 crisis. Uganda used the Whole of Government and Whole of Society approaches to form core-periphery networks of government and nongovernment actors. It institutionalized task forces and subcommittees at national, district, and community levels to coordinate the COVID-19 response. Networks of actors contributed to the response through case surveillance and management, enforcement of measures, information sharing, social protection and community engagement, resource mobilization, supply chain management, and vaccination. However, the experiences varied across the country with challenges including consensus problems, mistrust, corruption, poor accountability, abuse of rights, and limited capacities especially in local governments. The study revealed that the effectiveness in handling infectious disease crisis might not greatly depend on the country's democracy but rather the government's ability to recognize the threats and adopt collaborative mechanisms to manage the crisis. Contextual understanding of such experiences may provide lessons that future governments may consider when, not if, crises of such magnitude confront them. © 2023 Policy Studies Organization.

The use of zakat in the pandemic response: the case of Islamic Relief and BAZNAS in Indonesia

This article compares two Islamic organisations, a non-governmental and a national one, in their methods of collecting and distributing zakat, and analyses how they addressed the COVID-19 crisis with these funds in the period 2020–2021. The study examines Islamic Relief as a Muslim non-governmental organisation involved in humanitarian response, and the National Board of the Zakat Republic of Indonesia (BAZNAS) as a centralised national institution. Both of them are working to improve zakat management, due to the awareness of its untapped potential, but the measure of impacts and allocation of resources diverge in strategies and efforts. Considering their different structures, a comparison based on parallel analysis of collecting methods, distributing channels and programmes financed shows the limits, potentials and best practices of these two institutions committed to zakat management and its improvement.

THE SPREAD OF THE COVID-19 INFECTION IN RUSSIA'S BALTIC MACRO-REGION: INTERNAL DIFFERENCES

This article explores the spread of the COVID-19 infection in Russia's Baltic macro-region. The monthly excess mortality rate in the Baltic region is analysed along with regional and municipal COVID-19 response acts to identify regional features affecting the spread of the disease. The spatial characteristics of Russia's Baltic regions, germane to the propagation of COVID-19, were distinguished by examining selected social and economic statistical indicators. Based on the space of places/space of flows dichotomy, Russia's Baltic regions can be divided into three spaces: 1) St. Petersburg, the Leningrad and Kaliningrad regions (dominated by spaces of flows;highly permeable space);2) the Republic of Karelia and the Murmansk region (the key factors are rotational employment and the introduction of the virus from without);3) the Novgorod and Pskov regions (lowly permeable spaces of places;the central role of local foci of the disease). The principal risk factor for the space of flows is the rapid spread of COVID-19 along transport arteries, whilst, within the space of places, the coronavirus spreads through spatial diffusion from isolated foci along short radii. In the former case, local authorities counteracted spatial diffusion by restricting movement in the local labour market;in the latter, by limiting travel between the centre and the periphery. The traditional ideas about positive (openness, centrality) and negative (closedness, peripherality) characteristics of space are reversed in the context of the pandemic: periphery gains the benefit of natural protection from the pandemic, whilst centres become acutely vulnerable © Alov, I. N., Pilyasov, A. N., 2023

Prioritizing health and productivity to support urban and informal women entrepreneurs in Sub-Saharan Africa

Urban women entrepreneurs (WEs) in the informal sector play a largely overlooked role in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). WEs also leverage collective action strategies to support each other. The COVID-19 pandemic has severely hampered the activities of WEs in the urban informal sector. The detrimental health and economic implications of sidelining urban WEs in Sub-Saharan Africa can be avoided by bridging the gap between the needs of urban WEs in the informal sector and the policies developed. This paper outlines strategies to fully integrate the experiences of urban WEs into state interventions to improve their wellbeing and economic productivity. © 2021 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

The use of innovative approaches to strengthen health system resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic: case studies from selected Commonwealth countries.

This article is part of the Research Topic 'Health Systems Recovery in the Context of COVID-19 and Protracted Conflict'. The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the vulnerabilities and limitations of many health systems and underscored the need for strengthening health system resilience to make and sustain progress toward Universal Health Coverage (UHC), global health security and healthier populations in tandem. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Commonwealth countries have been practicing a combination of innovative integrated approaches and actions to build health systems resilience. This includes utilizing digital tools, improvements in all-hazard emergency risk management, developing multisectoral partnerships, strengthening surveillance and community engagement. These interventions have been instrumental in strengthening national COVID-19 responses and can contribute to the evidence-base for increasing country investment into health systems resilience, particularly as we look toward COVID-19 recovery. This paper gives perspectives of five Commonwealth countries and their overall responses to the pandemic, highlighting practical firsthand experiences in the field. The countries included in this paper are Guyana, Malawi, Rwanda, Sri Lanka, and Tanzania. Given the diversity within the Commonwealth both in terms of geographical location and state of development, this publication can serve as a useful reference for countries as they prepare their health systems to better absorb the shocks that may emerge in future emergencies.

COVID-19 surveillance in Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, Senegal and Uganda: strengths, weaknesses and key Lessons.

INTRODUCTION: As part of efforts to rapidly identify and care for individuals with COVID-19, trace and quarantine contacts, and monitor disease trends over time, most African countries implemented interventions to strengthen their existing disease surveillance systems. This research describes the strengths, weaknesses and lessons learnt from the COVID-19 surveillance strategies implemented in four African countries to inform the enhancement of surveillance systems for future epidemics on the continent. METHODS: The four countries namely the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Nigeria, Senegal, and Uganda, were selected based on their variability in COVID-19 response and representation of Francophone and Anglophone countries. A mixed-methods observational study was conducted including desk review and key informant interviews, to document best practices, gaps, and innovations in surveillance at the national, sub-national, health facilities, and community levels, and these learnings were synthesized across the countries. RESULTS: Surveillance approaches across countries included - case investigation, contact tracing, community-based, laboratory-based sentinel, serological, telephone hotlines, and genomic sequencing surveillance. As the COVID-19 pandemic progressed, the health systems moved from aggressive testing and contact tracing to detect virus and triage individual contacts into quarantine and confirmed cases, isolation and clinical care. Surveillance, including case definitions, changed from contact tracing of all contacts of confirmed cases to only symptomatic contacts and travelers. All countries reported inadequate staffing, staff capacity gaps and lack of full integration of data sources. All four countries under study improved data management and surveillance capacity by training health workers and increasing resources for laboratories, but the disease burden was under-detected. Decentralizing surveillance to enable swifter implementation of targeted public health measures at the subnational level was a challenge. There were also gaps in genomic and postmortem surveillance including community level sero-prevalence studies, as well as digital technologies to provide more timely and accurate surveillance data. CONCLUSION: All the four countries demonstrated a prompt public health surveillance response and adopted similar approaches to surveillance with some adaptations as the pandemic progresses. There is need for investments to enhance surveillance approaches and systems including decentralizing surveillance to the subnational and community levels, strengthening capabilities for genomic surveillance and use of digital technologies, among others. Investing in health worker capacity, ensuring data quality and availability and improving ability to transmit surveillance data between and across multiple levels of the health care system is also critical. Countries need to take immediate action in strengthening their surveillance systems to better prepare for the next major disease outbreak and pandemic.

Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation of the COVID-19 Response in the Africa Region.

As the COVID-19 pandemic swept throughout the world, it created a demand for information to help understand the public health response and its effects. Limited capacity to see and interpret data-"sensemaking" with measures of progress-affects the use of data for quality improvement. The World Health Organization Regional Office for Africa (WHO AFRO) supported partners from the Member States in using a participatory monitoring and evaluation system to document and systematically reflect on the COVID-19 response at the country level. The WHO AFRO's COVID-19 Response Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) team captured and communicated response activities based on available reports from 35 of the 47 member countries. By reviewing reports and communications, the M&E team documented nearly 8,000 COVID-19 response activities during the study period (January 2020 through July 2021). A "sensemaking" protocol was used to support country partners in identifying factors associated with increases or decreases in both new cases and response activities. This report describes this participatory M&E approach and process of shared sensemaking. We illustrate with a country-level case study of the COVID-19 response in the Africa Region.

Strategic response to COVID-19 in Ethiopia.

COVID-19, the novel coronavirus, has posed a major threat to low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) due to inadequate health infrastructure and human resources. Ethiopia, a low-income country with the second largest population in Africa, has coordinated a strategic response, leveraging existing infrastructure and health systems and mobilizing public health professionals and specialist expert physicians for a multifaceted, unified government approach and adaptive response. Resource limitations, particularly in critical care, have still posed challenges, but the public health and clinical interventions thus far have prevented the catastrophic toll that many predicted. As the pandemic continues, Ethiopia expects to use a triple care model integrated at all levels, consisting of COVID-19 care, isolation care for suspected cases, and essential health services, and urges intensified non-pharmaceutical interventions alongside equitable global vaccine distribution as the ultimate answers to pandemic control. This paper draws on existing data, national planning and guidelines, and expertise from health leadership to describe this response in hopes of providing an example of how future large-scale health challenges might be faced in LMICs, using Ethiopia's successes and challenges in facing the pandemic.

COVID-19, le nouveau coronavirus, a représenté une menace majeure pour les pays à revenu faible et intermédiaire (LMIC) en raison de l'insuffisance des infrastructures de santé et des ressources humaines. L'Éthiopie, un pays à faible revenu dont la population est la deuxième plus importante d'Afrique, a coordonné une réponse stratégique, en tirant parti des infrastructures et des systèmes de santé existants et en mobilisant des professionnels de la santé publique et des médecins experts spécialisés pour une approche gouvernementale unifiée à multiples facettes et une réponse adaptative. Les ressources limitées, notamment en matière de soins intensifs, ont encore posé des problèmes, mais les interventions cliniques et de santé publique menées jusqu'à présent ont permis d'éviter le bilan catastrophique que beaucoup prédisaient. Alors que la pandémie se poursuit, l'Éthiopie prévoit d'utiliser un modèle de soins triple intégré à tous les niveaux, composé de soins COVID-19, de soins d'isolement pour les cas suspects et de services de santé essentiels, et préconise l'intensification des interventions non pharmaceutiques parallèlement à une distribution équitable des vaccins à l'échelle mondiale comme réponses ultimes au contrôle de la pandémie. Cet article s'appuie sur les données existantes, la planification et les directives nationales, et l'expertise des responsables de la santé pour décrire cette réponse dans l'espoir de fournir un exemple de la manière dont les futurs défis sanitaires à grande échelle pourraient être relevés dans les LMIC, en utilisant les succès et les défis de l'Éthiopie face à la pandémie.

Public health response to COVID-19 pandemic and drivers of mistrust in Ghana

Recent studies suggest that trust in government and public health experts is vital for acceptance of public health recommendations during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is increasingly clear that mistrust in public health recommendation affects efforts to slowdown the spread of COVID-19 in many countries. The objective of this study is to identify perceived drivers of mistrust in public health responses to COVID-19 in Ghana, using concept mapping with a range of local stakeholders (n = 21). The study was conducted between July and August 2020. Fifty-two items describing factors that influence mistrust in COVID-19 response were identified across eight themes. Out of eight clusters that emerged, participants rated weak health system, distrust in politicians and state institutions, and politicization of response measures as the most important and prevalent drivers of mistrust. The results show that the old narrative of cultural beliefs and illiteracy is not sufficient for understanding mistrust in public health programs during epidemics in SSA, at least in the case of COVID-19 in Ghana. This study demonstrates the need for global health practitioners to pay attention to structural forces and political relations in order to paint a fuller picture of mistrust during epidemics and pandemics. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of African Geographical Review is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

Impacts of the COVID-19 response on populations with chronic conditions and developmental disabilities

People with chronic conditions faced a type of double jeopardy during the COVID-19 pandemic. Their pre-existing health conditions made them more likely to become severely ill-and more likely to be admitted to intensive care, intubated, and die-if infected with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. At the same time, access to needed screening, testing, and treatment was often limited due to the cancelation of primary care services by healthcare providers and systems overwhelmed by the need to treat patients with COVID-19. Patients with chronic conditions feared being exposed to COVID-19 while receiving care. The resulting stress, fear, and anxiety made the management of chronic diseases even more difficult. Several subsets of patients with certain medical conditions, including immunodeficiencies and disabilities, were particularly impacted. The COVID-19 pandemic, and the response to it, also impacted support and services available to caregivers and heightened stress, particularly among parents and caregivers. © 2023 The authors.

A Tale of Two Crisis: The Impact of EU Response to the Pandemic—The Case of Italy

The COVID-19 pandemic had enormous health, economic and political consequences. In this article we argue that, after some initial confusion, the European Commission and European Central Bank, contrary to what had happened with the Euro-zone crisis, have profoundly altered their policies to address the dire consequences of the pandemic. The analysis is predicated around the case of Italy, which was the first country to face the spreading of the virus among its population as well as one of the most seriously hit in both health and economic terms. As underlined below, also the Italian political panorama has been substantially altered by both the crisis and the intervention of the EU in it. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Impacts of the COVID-19 response on the governmental public health workforce

The governmental public health workforce provides essential public health services to communities from public health agencies operations at the local, state, and federal levels of government. The roles and duties of public health workers range from infectious disease tracking and control to healthy eating promotion to checking food service establishments for safety. Unfortunately, most of the time, the general public is unaware of, and unconcerned with, public health's primary mission of disease prevention. This behind-thescenes, service-oriented workforce has responded to the COVID-19 pandemic by working long hours, extra days, and ever-changing job roles, all while becoming targets of political attacks and enduring substantially elevated psychological distress and burnout. Though this workforce is not well enumerated, existing studies indicate that public health workers face higher anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and burnout than other frontline healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic response. Several strategies have been suggested to address these vulnerabilities, including increasing the amount and stability of available funding, implementing organizational-level policies and programming to boost resilience, and providing individual-level social support, both instrumental and emotional, to protect against burnout and other psychological distresses. © 2023 The authors.

Mental health in rural america during COVID-19 and beyond

COVID-19 has had remarkable impacts in rural America. Although the onset of the pandemic was in urban areas, it quickly spread to rural areas and ultimately resulted in higher mortality rates for rural populations. Due to this and other associated impacts, the pandemic has resulted in mental health issues across rural America. In this chapter, the authors first describe the state of rural America pre-pandemic, then detail the overall and mental health impacts of the pandemic on rural people. Following this, the authors report results of a case study on COVID-19 in the rural America West and conclude with recommended steps for addressing the unfolding crisis. Many of the steps the authors can take to improve rural mental health following the pandemic have long-been necessary. However, given the impacts of COVID-19, they are now needed more than ever. © 2023 The authors.

Impacts of the COVID-19 response on frontline healthcare workers

The COVID-19 pandemic, and the responses to it that were required from frontline healthcare providers and others working in healthcare settings including environmental, clerical, and security staff, has challenged our healthcare systems in unprecedented ways. The threats to the financial, physical, and psychological well-being of healthcare professionals-many of whom entered the field due at least in part to a deep commitment to caring for and helping others-will have profound and long-lasting personal and professional impacts. Early in the pandemic response, healthcare professionals knew little about the risks they, their patients, and their loved ones faced from COVID-19 as they operated under crisis standards of care and without adequate supplies of personal protective equipment. As the pandemic response progressed, the lack of clear, science-based guidance, and the politicization of the pandemic presented new medical, ethical, and moral dilemmas. New psychological support mechanisms, including crisis counseling and evidence-based interventions, are needed for all workers in healthcare settings, regardless of their job role. © 2023 The authors.

Responding to COVID-19 and Beyond: Key Recommendations for the Effective Public and Mental Health Response to Support the Well-Being of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples in Australia

The Australian response to COVID-19 demonstrates how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leadership, partnership, and self-determination are critical in ensuring public health measures and pandemic response planning is effective for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. This chapter outlines the key evidence-based recommendations and actions developed by three national Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander-led groups, in meaningful partnership with government, during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander response to COVID-19, led by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations and communities, has been renowned across the world. This highlights the importance of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander governance and leadership in leading the pandemic response for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and further illustrates the strengths of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander response to COVID-19 when priority reforms are heard and implemented by government. Throughout this chapter, mental health and well-being responses related to COVID-19 are particularly emphasised. Mental health experts predict that the mental health and well-being issues exacerbated by the pandemic will persist for many years (Savage, Coronavirus: The possible long-term mental health impacts, 2020). The mental health and well-being impacts of COVID-19 are of particular significance to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, who experience significant well-being disparities associated with the historical, political, and social determinants of health, arising from colonisation (Dudgeon et al., Working together: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mental health and wellbeing principles and practice, 2014). Together, the recommendations outlined here provide an effective base to plan for the long-term recovery of mental health and well-being of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples from COVID-19 and ensure the preparedness of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities for future pandemics. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022.

Data-Driven Decision Making in Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic: A City of Cape Town Case Study

In the event of a crisis, such as COVID-19, the decisions and subsequent actions taken by the local government are one of the primary sources of support to the local population. Yet the processes through which these decisions are reached and the data engineering advancements made for and during events are poorly reported. Understanding the capabilities and constraints in which city officials operate is essential for impactful academic research alongside global city comparison and discussion on best practices in reaching optimal and data-informed decisions. This is especially pertinent for the global South, where informality in housing and the economy presents further challenges to appropriate resource distribution in a crisis. Here, we present insights into the City of Cape Town's data-driven response and subsequent data engineering and analytical developments throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. This is based upon a review of internal documentation including a close-out report which summarised semi-structured interviews with staff involved in the data work stream. The paper reports on the deliverables produced during 2020 by the data work stream and outlines specific challenges the city faced and its data-informed response in the areas of (1) quantifying costs for COVID-19 initiatives, (2) dealing with a surge in fatalities, (3) guiding scarce public resources to respond to an evolving crisis, and (4) data sharing. We demonstrate the real-term value of incorporating data into the decision-making process and conclude by outlining key factors that cities and researchers must consider as a part of the usual business to effectively assist their populations during times of stress and crisis. © 2023 by the authors.

Not dead yet: Protest, process, and germany's constitutional democracy amid the coronavirus response

The COVID-19 response in the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) did not entail a declaration of a state of emergency. No provisions or procedures of the German constitution were suspended at any point. To be sure, the FRG's COVID response - including lockdowns, travel bans, hygiene rules, mask guidelines, distancing, testing, tracing, immunization plans, and so on - represents something other than business as usual. According to the Federal Ministry of Health, Germany's first official case of COVID-19 occurred in a man in the southern state of Bavaria on 27 January 2020. Germany's success with the first wave may have wrongly inflected overly buoyant expectations about successive waves - at all levels of politics and society - for better and worse. Either way, things were about to get weird in the FRG, although at first, the summer seemed to be shaping up rather nicely as SARS-CoV-2 restrictions eased. © 2023 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

"Education in Maharashtra during Covid-19: A Risk-Informed Response Perspective”

In response to contain the spread of disease, the nationwide lockdown was imposed, which is considered the best possible strategy adopted by the affected nations. The education sector was one of the worst-hit sectors by Covid-19 due to the closure of schools and other educational institutes. It was estimated that around 23.8 million additional children and youth might drop out or not have access to school next year due to the pandemic's impact alone. To continue the education, Learn from Home was adopted using ICT based solutions. However, considering the digital divide and the socio-economic disparity among the students, adapting to online education is expected to disproportionately affect vulnerable groups of students, especially adolescent girls who are likely to get married at an early age. Cases of suicide because of not having a smartphone, early girl child marriage are reported in Maharashtra. The researcher attempts to explore having a risk-informed response which means the process follows a risk-based decision-making approach. Any decision during disaster response possesses the potential risk of aggravating the situation for the vulnerable groups in society. The possible consequences are to be taken into consideration while taking any decision. The study attempts to critically examine the policy and programmes of the education sector through the lens of risk-informed planning. © 2023 DMICS.

Post-Pandemic Intended Use of Remote Teaching and Digital Learning Media in Higher Education. Insights from a Europe-wide Online Survey

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a transformational and potentially long-lasting impact on higher education institutions, with the rapid shift to "Emergency Remote Education”. Two years after the begin of the pandemic, institutions are either returning to presence formats with different speed or converging towards hybrid formats, begging the question what remains of the newly acquired skills and experience with remote teaching and digital learning media? Here, we present the findings of the first European-Union-wide survey on the potential long-term impacts of COVID-19 on higher education, evaluating over 800 responses from students and faculty members of higher education institutions located in 17 different European countries. Our survey - developed in the context of the ide3a university alliance (http://ide3a.net/) highlights possible differences between students and instructors in their attitude toward retaining digital teaching formats and media, examines which formats have increased in use over the course of the pandemic, and investigates which of them are intended to be kept and consolidated post-pandemic. The tools and formats examined in this survey include tools for communication and collaboration, formats of didactic activity, as well as assessment formats. Survey responses reveal that all evaluated tools and format have significantly increased in use during the pandemic and most of them are intended to be used at lower frequency in the future, while still at significantly higher frequency than before the pandemic. Moreover, attitudes toward long-term use of remote teaching and digital learning media seems to be comparable between students and faculty members, except regarding some tools. © 2022 SEFI 2022 - 50th Annual Conference of the European Society for Engineering Education, Proceedings. All rights reserved.