COVID-19 frontline primary health care professionals' perspectives on health system preparedness and response to the pandemic in the Mahalapye Health District, Botswana.
Afr J Prim Health Care Fam Med
; 14(1): e1-e6, 2022 Apr 19.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1835056
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
The World Health Organization issued interim guidelines on essential health system preparedness and response measures for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The control of the pandemic requires healthcare system preparedness and response.AIM:
This study aimed to evaluate frontline COVID-19 primary health care professionals' (PHC-Ps) views on health system preparedness and response to the pandemic in the Mahalapye Health District (MHD).SETTING:
In March 2020, the Botswana Ministry of Health directed health districts to educate their health professionals about COVID-19. One hundred and seventy frontline PHC-Ps were trained in MHD; they evaluated the health system's preparedness and response.METHODS:
This was a cross-sectional study that involved a self-administered questionnaire using the Integrated Disease Surveillance and Health System response guidelines.RESULTS:
The majority (72.5%) of participants felt unprepared to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic at their level. Most of the participants (70.7%) acknowledged that the health system response plan has been followed. About half of the participants attributed a low score regarding the health system's preparedness (44.4%), its response (50.0%), and its overall performance (55.6%) to the COVID-19 pandemic. There was an association between participants' age and work experience and their overall perceptions of preparedness and response (p = 0.009 and p = 0.005, respectively).CONCLUSION:
More than half of the participants gave a low score to the MHD regarding the health system's preparedness and response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Further studies are required to determine the causes of such attitudes and to be better prepared to respond effectively.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Pandemics
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Experimental Studies
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
/
Randomized controlled trials
Limits:
Humans
Country/Region as subject:
Africa
Language:
English
Journal:
Afr J Prim Health Care Fam Med
Year:
2022
Document Type:
Article
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