51
|
Ballard M, Bancroft E, Nesbit J, Johnson A, Holeman I, Foth J, Rogers D, Yang J, Nardella J, Olsen H, Raghavan M, Panjabi R, Alban R, Malaba S, Christiansen M, Rapp S, Schechter J, Aylward P, Rogers A, Sebisaho J, Ako C, Choudhury N, Westgate C, Mbeya J, Schwarz R, Bonds MH, Adamjee R, Bishop J, Yembrick A, Flood D, McLaughlin M, Palazuelos D. Prioritising the role of community health workers in the COVID-19 response. BMJ Glob Health 2020; 5:e002550. [PMID: 32503889 PMCID: PMC7298684 DOI: 10.1136/bmjgh-2020-002550] [Citation(s) in RCA: 126] [Impact Index Per Article: 31.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/31/2020] [Revised: 04/06/2020] [Accepted: 04/07/2020] [Indexed: 11/03/2022] Open
Abstract
COVID-19 disproportionately affects the poor and vulnerable. Community health workers are poised to play a pivotal role in fighting the pandemic, especially in countries with less resilient health systems. Drawing from practitioner expertise across four WHO regions, this article outlines the targeted actions needed at different stages of the pandemic to achieve the following goals: (1) PROTECT healthcare workers, (2) INTERRUPT the virus, (3) MAINTAIN existing healthcare services while surging their capacity, and (4) SHIELD the most vulnerable from socioeconomic shocks. While decisive action must be taken now to blunt the impact of the pandemic in countries likely to be hit the hardest, many of the investments in the supply chain, compensation, dedicated supervision, continuous training and performance management necessary for rapid community response in a pandemic are the same as those required to achieve universal healthcare and prevent the next epidemic.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Madeleine Ballard
- Community Health Impact Coalition, New York, New York, USA
- Department of Health System Design and Global Health, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York City, New York, USA
| | | | - Josh Nesbit
- Medic Mobile, San Francisco, California, USA
| | - Ari Johnson
- Muso, Bamako, Mali
- Global Health Sciences, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA
| | - Isaac Holeman
- Medic Mobile, San Francisco, California, USA
- Department of Global Health, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA
| | | | | | | | | | - Helen Olsen
- Medic Mobile, San Francisco, California, USA
| | | | - Raj Panjabi
- Last Mile Health, Monrovia, Liberia
- Division of Global Health Equity, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | - Nandini Choudhury
- Department of Health System Design and Global Health, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York City, New York, USA
- POSSIBLE, New York, New York, USA
| | - Carey Westgate
- Community Health Impact Coalition, New York, New York, USA
| | | | - Ryan Schwarz
- Division of Global Health Equity, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
- POSSIBLE, New York, New York, USA
| | - Matthew H Bonds
- Harvard Medical School Department of Global Health and Social Medicine, Blavatnik Institute, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
- PIVOT, Ranomafana, Madagascar
| | | | | | | | - David Flood
- Wuqu' Kawoq, Santiago Sacatepéquez, Sacatepéquez, Guatemala
- Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
| | | | - Daniel Palazuelos
- Division of Global Health Equity, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
- Partners In Health, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
| |
Collapse
|
52
|
Moradian N, Ochs HD, Sedikies C, Hamblin MR, Camargo CA, Martinez JA, Biamonte JD, Abdollahi M, Torres PJ, Nieto JJ, Ogino S, Seymour JF, Abraham A, Cauda V, Gupta S, Ramakrishna S, Sellke FW, Sorooshian A, Wallace Hayes A, Martinez-Urbistondo M, Gupta M, Azadbakht L, Esmaillzadeh A, Kelishadi R, Esteghamati A, Emam-Djomeh Z, Majdzadeh R, Palit P, Badali H, Rao I, Saboury AA, Jagan Mohan Rao L, Ahmadieh H, Montazeri A, Fadini GP, Pauly D, Thomas S, Moosavi-Movahed AA, Aghamohammadi A, Behmanesh M, Rahimi-Movaghar V, Ghavami S, Mehran R, Uddin LQ, Von Herrath M, Mobasher B, Rezaei N. The urgent need for integrated science to fight COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. J Transl Med 2020; 18:205. [PMID: 32430070 PMCID: PMC7236639 DOI: 10.1186/s12967-020-02364-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 94] [Impact Index Per Article: 23.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/24/2020] [Accepted: 05/04/2020] [Indexed: 12/17/2022] Open
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has become the leading societal concern. The pandemic has shown that the public health concern is not only a medical problem, but also affects society as a whole; so, it has also become the leading scientific concern. We discuss in this treatise the importance of bringing the world's scientists together to find effective solutions for controlling the pandemic. By applying novel research frameworks, interdisciplinary collaboration promises to manage the pandemic's consequences and prevent recurrences of similar pandemics.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Negar Moradian
- Universal Scientific Education and Research Network (USERN),.,Research Center for Immunodeficiencies, Children's Medical Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, 14194, Iran
| | - Hans D Ochs
- Universal Scientific Education and Research Network (USERN),.,Department of Pediatrics, University of Washington and Seattle Children's Research Institute, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Constantine Sedikies
- Universal Scientific Education and Research Network (USERN),.,Centre for Research on Self Identity, Department of Psychology, School of Psychology, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK
| | - Michael R Hamblin
- Universal Scientific Education and Research Network (USERN),.,Wellman Center for Photomedicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA.,Laser Research Centre, Faculty of Health Science, University of Johannesburg, Doornfontein, 2028, South Africa
| | - Carlos A Camargo
- Universal Scientific Education and Research Network (USERN),.,Department of Emergency Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - J Alfredo Martinez
- Universal Scientific Education and Research Network (USERN),.,University of Navarra, CIBERobn and IMDEA food, International Union of Nutritional Sciences (IUNS), Navarra, Spain.,International Union of Nutritional Sciences (IUNS), London, UK
| | - Jacob D Biamonte
- Universal Scientific Education and Research Network (USERN),.,Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology, Moscow, Russia
| | - Mohammad Abdollahi
- Universal Scientific Education and Research Network (USERN),.,Pharmaceutical Sciences Research Center (PSRC), The Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences (TIPS), and School of Pharmacy, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
| | - Pedro J Torres
- Universal Scientific Education and Research Network (USERN),.,Departamento de Matemática Aplicada, Universidad de Granada, 18071, Granada, Spain
| | - Juan J Nieto
- Universal Scientific Education and Research Network (USERN),.,Instituto de Matemáticas, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Santiago De Compostela, Spain
| | - Shuji Ogino
- Universal Scientific Education and Research Network (USERN),.,Department of Epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA.,Program in MPE Molecular Pathological Epidemiology, Department of Pathology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.,Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - John F Seymour
- Universal Scientific Education and Research Network (USERN),.,The Sir Peter MacCallum Department of Oncology, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.,Department of Haematology, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and Royal Melbourne Hospital, Melbourne, Australia
| | - Ajith Abraham
- Universal Scientific Education and Research Network (USERN),.,Machine Intelligence Research Labs, Auburn, WA, USA
| | - Valentina Cauda
- Universal Scientific Education and Research Network (USERN),.,Department of Applied Science and Technology, Politecnico di Torino Corso, Duca degli Abruzzi 24, 10129, Turin, Italy
| | - Sudhir Gupta
- Universal Scientific Education and Research Network (USERN),.,Division of Basic and Clinical Immunology, University of California Irvine, California, USA
| | - Seeram Ramakrishna
- Universal Scientific Education and Research Network (USERN),.,National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Frank W Sellke
- Universal Scientific Education and Research Network (USERN),.,Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Department of Surgery, Rhode Island Hospital, Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Providence, RI, 02903, USA
| | - Armin Sorooshian
- Universal Scientific Education and Research Network (USERN),.,Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA.,Department of Hydrology and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
| | - A Wallace Hayes
- Universal Scientific Education and Research Network (USERN),.,A. Wallace Hayes, University of South, Florida College of Public Health and Institute for Integrative Toxicology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, USA
| | | | - Manoj Gupta
- Universal Scientific Education and Research Network (USERN),.,Department of Mechanical Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Leila Azadbakht
- Universal Scientific Education and Research Network (USERN),.,Department of Mechanical Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Ahmad Esmaillzadeh
- Universal Scientific Education and Research Network (USERN),.,Department of Community Nutrition, School of Nutritional Sciences and Dietetics, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
| | - Roya Kelishadi
- Universal Scientific Education and Research Network (USERN),.,Child Growth and Development Research Center, Research Institute for Primordial Prevention of Non-communicable Disease, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran
| | - Alireza Esteghamati
- Universal Scientific Education and Research Network (USERN),.,Endocrinology and Metabolism Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Tehran, Iran
| | - Zahra Emam-Djomeh
- Universal Scientific Education and Research Network (USERN),.,Department of Food Science, Engineering and Technology, College of Agriculture & Natural Resources, University of Tehran, Karaj Campus, Karaj, Iran; Transfer Phenomena Laboratory (TPL), Controlled Release Center, University of Tehran, Karaj Campus, Karaj, Iran
| | - Reza Majdzadeh
- Universal Scientific Education and Research Network (USERN),.,Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
| | - Partha Palit
- Universal Scientific Education and Research Network (USERN),.,Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Drug Discovery Research Laboratorty, Assam University, Silchar, Assam, India
| | - Hamid Badali
- Universal Scientific Education and Research Network (USERN),.,Invasive Fungi Research Center and Department of Medical Mycology, School of Medicine, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Iran.,Fungus Testing Laboratory, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, USA
| | - Idupulapati Rao
- Universal Scientific Education and Research Network (USERN),.,Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical (CIAT), Cali, Colombia
| | - Ali Akbar Saboury
- Universal Scientific Education and Research Network (USERN),.,Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
| | - L Jagan Mohan Rao
- Universal Scientific Education and Research Network (USERN),.,Spice and Flavour Science Department, CSIR-Central Food Technological Research Institute, Mysore, India
| | - Hamid Ahmadieh
- Universal Scientific Education and Research Network (USERN),.,Ophthalmic Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
| | - Ali Montazeri
- Universal Scientific Education and Research Network (USERN),.,Population Health Research Group, Health Metrics Research Center, Institute for Health Sciences Research, ACECR, Tehran, Iran
| | - Gian Paolo Fadini
- Universal Scientific Education and Research Network (USERN),.,Department of Medicine, Division of Metabolic Diseases and, Padova Hospital, University of Padova, Padua, Italy
| | - Daniel Pauly
- Universal Scientific Education and Research Network (USERN),.,Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - Sabu Thomas
- Universal Scientific Education and Research Network (USERN),.,School of Chemical Sciences, Mahatma Gandhi University, Kerala, 686 560, India
| | - Ali A Moosavi-Movahed
- Universal Scientific Education and Research Network (USERN),.,Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
| | - Asghar Aghamohammadi
- Universal Scientific Education and Research Network (USERN),.,Research Center for Immunodeficiencies, Children's Medical Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, 14194, Iran
| | - Mehrdad Behmanesh
- Universal Scientific Education and Research Network (USERN),.,Department of Genetics, Faculty of Biological Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran
| | - Vafa Rahimi-Movaghar
- Universal Scientific Education and Research Network (USERN),.,Sina Trauma and Surgery Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
| | - Saeid Ghavami
- Universal Scientific Education and Research Network (USERN),.,Department of Human Anatomy and Cell Science, Max Rady College of Medicine, Rady Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, R3E 3P4, Canada.,Faculty of Medicine, Katowice School of Technology, 40-555, Katowice, Poland
| | - Roxana Mehran
- Universal Scientific Education and Research Network (USERN),.,Zena and Michael A. Weiner Cardiovascular Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and Cardiovascular Research Foundation, New York, NY, USA
| | - Lucina Q Uddin
- Universal Scientific Education and Research Network (USERN),.,Department of Psychology, University of Miami, Miami, USA
| | - Matthias Von Herrath
- Universal Scientific Education and Research Network (USERN),.,Center for Type 1, Diabetes Research, La Jolla Institute for Immunology, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Bahram Mobasher
- Universal Scientific Education and Research Network (USERN),.,Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California Riverside, Riverside, CA, 92521, USA
| | - Nima Rezaei
- Universal Scientific Education and Research Network (USERN), , . .,Research Center for Immunodeficiencies, Children's Medical Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, 14194, Iran.
| |
Collapse
|