Perspectives for Better Health: prepare for the Exiting Severe Phase of the COVID-19 pandemic

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.20883/medical.e932

Keywords:

COVID-19, health efficiency perspectives, preparedness

Abstract

On May 5, 2023, the World Health Organisation declared that COVID-19 was no longer considered a public health emergency of international concern, and various governments are closing their healthcare facilities, meticulously prepared for the world's worst pandemic. However, the question arises of how to exit this pandemic's severe phase responsibly. The present communication discusses the follies of being underprepared to tackle COVID-19, particularly by the economically weaker nations, and it also outlines the necessary steps that are now needed for better management of future pandemics with international cooperation of the developed and developing countries. More attention is needed to address the paradox of digital access in excess but of little technical use, particularly in emergencies like the recent viral pandemic. If the scientific analyses of the healthcare issues had been carried out correctly, their predictions and strategies supported by authentic big data, managing the pandemic could have been better. Still, there is time and expertise developed recently that can help future generations. On the individual front, mass education, awareness of hygiene, and understanding and application of basic science, particularly in rural areas, needed to be safer rather than depend on traditional beliefs and expect miracles, a system prevalent in developing countries.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Ali SA. Have we tamed the coronavirus? Maybe yes, as pandemics do not die, they can only be faded! Editors Communique. Biosc. Biotech. Res. Comm. 2023;16(1):1-2.

Leal Filho W, Brandli LL, Lange Salvia A, Rayman-Bacchus L, Platje J. COVID-19 and the UN Sustainable Development Goals: Threat to Solidarity or an Opportunity? Sustainability. 2020;12(13):5343. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12135343.

WHO Coronavirus (COVID-19) 2023 Dashboard. https://covid19.who.int (Accessed 26th June 2023).

Msemburi W, Karlinsky A, Knutson V, Aleshin-Guendel S, Chatterji S, Wakefield J. The WHO estimates of excess mortality associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. Nature. 2023 Jan;613(7942):130-137. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-05522-2.

Fang E, Liu X, Li M, Zhang Z, Song L, Zhu B, Wu X, Liu J, Zhao D, Li Y. Advances in COVID-19 mRNA vaccine development. Signal Transduct Target Ther. 2022 Mar 23;7(1):94. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41392-022-00950-y.

Rzymski P, Camargo CA Jr, Fal A, Flisiak R, Gwenzi W, Kelishadi R, Leemans A, Nieto JJ, Ozen A, Perc M, Poniedziałek B, Sedikides C, Sellke F, Skirmuntt EC, Stashchak A, Rezaei N. COVID-19 Vaccine Boosters: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. Vaccines (Basel). 2021 Nov 9;9(11):1299. https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines9111299.

Teoh SL, Lim YH, Lai NM, Lee SWH. Directly Acting Antivirals for COVID-19: Where Do We Stand? Front Microbiol. 2020 Aug 5;11:1857. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2020.01857.

Carabelli AM, Peacock TP, Thorne LG, Harvey WT, Hughes J; COVID-19 Genomics UK Consortium; Peacock SJ, Barclay WS, de Silva TI, Towers GJ, Robertson DL. SARS-CoV-2 variant biology: immune escape, transmission and fitness. Nat Rev Microbiol. 2023 Mar;21(3):162-177. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41579-022-00841-7.

Jokhdar H, Khan A, Asiri S, Motair W, Assiri A, Alabdulaali M. COVID-19 Mitigation Plans During Hajj 2020: A Success Story of Zero Cases. Health Secur. 2021 Mar-Apr;19(2):133-139. https://doi.org/10.1089/hs.2020.0144.

Rahman R, Al-Borie H. Strengthening the Saudi Arabian healthcare system: role of vision 2030. Int J Health Care Manag. 2020:1-9:1483-1491. https://doi.org/10.1080/20479700.2020.1788334.

OECD Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Realising the full potential of primary health care. OECD Publishing, Paris 2020.

WHO-UNICEF A vision for primary health care in the 21st century: towards universal health coverage and the Sustainable Development Goals 2021.

OECD. Preparing for the next pandemic: What Development Assistance Committee members should know, OECD Development Co-operation Directorate, OECD Publishing, Paris 2022.

The Lancet Respiratory Medicine. Future pandemics: failing to prepare means preparing to fail. Lancet Respir Med. 2022 Mar;10(3):221-222. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2213-2600(22)00056-X.

Gwenzi W, Skirmuntt EC, Musvuugwa T, Teta C, Halabowski D, Rzymski P. Grappling with (re)-emerging infectious zoonoses: Risk assessment, mitigation framework, and future directions: International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction. 2022 November;82:103350. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2022.103350.

Sridhar D. Learn from past pandemics: Nature. 2022;610:S50. https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-03362-8.

Gozzi N, Chinazzi M, Dean NE, Longini IM Jr, Halloran ME, Perra N, Vespignani A. Estimating the impact of COVID-19 vaccine inequities: a modeling study. Nat Commun. 2023 Jun 6;14(1):3272. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-39098-w.

Rzymski P, Pokorska-Śpiewak M, Jackowska T, Kuchar E, Nitsch-Osuch A, Pawłowska M, Babicki M, Jaroszewicz J, Szenborn L, Wysocki J, et al. Key Considerations during the Transition from the Acute Phase of the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Narrative Review. Vaccines. 2023;11(9):1502. https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines11091502.

Rzymski P, Szuster-Ciesielska A, Dzieciątkowski T, Gwenzi W, Fal A. mRNA vaccines: The future of prevention of viral infections? J Med Virol. 2023 Feb;95(2):e28572. https://doi.org/10.1002/jmv.28572.

Savinkina A, Bilinski A, Fitzpatrick M, Paltiel AD, Rizvi Z, Salomon J, Thornhill T, Gonsalves G. Estimating deaths averted and cost per life saved by scaling up mRNA COVID-19 vaccination in low-income and lower-middle-income countries in the COVID-19 Omicron variant era: a modelling study. BMJ Open. 2022 Sep 13;12(9):e061752. https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.02.08.22270465.

Downloads

Published

2023-12-07

Issue

Section

Thousand words about...

How to Cite

1.
Miraj SS, Ali SA. Perspectives for Better Health: prepare for the Exiting Severe Phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. JMS [Internet]. 2023 Dec. 7 [cited 2024 Nov. 2];93(1):e932. Available from: https://jmsnew.ump.edu.pl/index.php/JMS/article/view/932
Received 2023-09-18
Accepted 2023-11-05
Published 2023-12-07