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Initial response to SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) outbreak in Sri Lanka; views of public health specialists through an International Health Regulations lens

The COVID-19 pandemic affected Sri Lanka despite having developed an International Health Regulations (IHR) steering committee in 2016 and a national action plan for health security following the Joint External Evaluation in 2018. Many steps were taken to improve the disaster management skills of he...

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Autores principales: Caldera, Amandhi, Wickremasinghe, Rajitha, Newby, Gretchen, Perera, Ruwanthi, Mendis, Kamini, Fernando, Deepika
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10637679/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37948434
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0293521
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author Caldera, Amandhi
Wickremasinghe, Rajitha
Newby, Gretchen
Perera, Ruwanthi
Mendis, Kamini
Fernando, Deepika
author_facet Caldera, Amandhi
Wickremasinghe, Rajitha
Newby, Gretchen
Perera, Ruwanthi
Mendis, Kamini
Fernando, Deepika
author_sort Caldera, Amandhi
collection PubMed
description The COVID-19 pandemic affected Sri Lanka despite having developed an International Health Regulations (IHR) steering committee in 2016 and a national action plan for health security following the Joint External Evaluation in 2018. Many steps were taken to improve the disaster management skills of healthcare workers even before the COVID-19 outbreak. We interviewed seven public health specialists to obtain their views on the country’s response to the pandemic. A thematic analysis was conducted, leading to the emergence of three major themes and seven subthemes. The major themes included health security preparedness; COVID-19 management; and effects of COVID-19. The subthemes were; preparedness prior to pandemic and gaps in the preparedness (under health security preparedness); dual burden for the curative sector, strategies to reduce transmission and barriers to managing COVID-19 (under COVID-19 management) and negative and positive effects of COVID-19 (under effects of COVID-19). When COVID-19 reached Sri Lanka, healthcare workers, border control authorities and those involved with infectious disease control were overwhelmed by the magnitude of the pandemic. Healthcare workers’ hesitation to work amidst the pandemic due to fear of infection and possible transmission of infection to their families was a major issue; the demand for personal protective equipment by health workers when stocks were low was also a contributory factor. Lockdowns with curfew and quarantine at government regulated centers were implemented as necessary. Perceptions of the public including permitting healthcare workers to perform field public health services, logistical barriers and lack of human resources were a few of the barriers that were expressed. Some persons did not declare their symptoms, fearing that they would have to be quarantined. The pandemic severely affected the economy and Sri Lanka relied on donations and loans to overcome the situation. Pandemic also brought about innovative methods to maintain and upgrade health service provision. Individuals with non-communicable diseases received their regular medications through the post which reduced their risk of being infected by visiting hospitals. Improvement of laboratory services and quarantine services, a reduction of acute respiratory infections and diarrhoeal diseases, improved intersectoral coordination and public philanthropic response were other positive effects.
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spelling pubmed-106376792023-11-11 Initial response to SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) outbreak in Sri Lanka; views of public health specialists through an International Health Regulations lens Caldera, Amandhi Wickremasinghe, Rajitha Newby, Gretchen Perera, Ruwanthi Mendis, Kamini Fernando, Deepika PLoS One Research Article The COVID-19 pandemic affected Sri Lanka despite having developed an International Health Regulations (IHR) steering committee in 2016 and a national action plan for health security following the Joint External Evaluation in 2018. Many steps were taken to improve the disaster management skills of healthcare workers even before the COVID-19 outbreak. We interviewed seven public health specialists to obtain their views on the country’s response to the pandemic. A thematic analysis was conducted, leading to the emergence of three major themes and seven subthemes. The major themes included health security preparedness; COVID-19 management; and effects of COVID-19. The subthemes were; preparedness prior to pandemic and gaps in the preparedness (under health security preparedness); dual burden for the curative sector, strategies to reduce transmission and barriers to managing COVID-19 (under COVID-19 management) and negative and positive effects of COVID-19 (under effects of COVID-19). When COVID-19 reached Sri Lanka, healthcare workers, border control authorities and those involved with infectious disease control were overwhelmed by the magnitude of the pandemic. Healthcare workers’ hesitation to work amidst the pandemic due to fear of infection and possible transmission of infection to their families was a major issue; the demand for personal protective equipment by health workers when stocks were low was also a contributory factor. Lockdowns with curfew and quarantine at government regulated centers were implemented as necessary. Perceptions of the public including permitting healthcare workers to perform field public health services, logistical barriers and lack of human resources were a few of the barriers that were expressed. Some persons did not declare their symptoms, fearing that they would have to be quarantined. The pandemic severely affected the economy and Sri Lanka relied on donations and loans to overcome the situation. Pandemic also brought about innovative methods to maintain and upgrade health service provision. Individuals with non-communicable diseases received their regular medications through the post which reduced their risk of being infected by visiting hospitals. Improvement of laboratory services and quarantine services, a reduction of acute respiratory infections and diarrhoeal diseases, improved intersectoral coordination and public philanthropic response were other positive effects. Public Library of Science 2023-11-10 /pmc/articles/PMC10637679/ /pubmed/37948434 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0293521 Text en © 2023 Caldera et al https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Caldera, Amandhi
Wickremasinghe, Rajitha
Newby, Gretchen
Perera, Ruwanthi
Mendis, Kamini
Fernando, Deepika
Initial response to SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) outbreak in Sri Lanka; views of public health specialists through an International Health Regulations lens
title Initial response to SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) outbreak in Sri Lanka; views of public health specialists through an International Health Regulations lens
title_full Initial response to SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) outbreak in Sri Lanka; views of public health specialists through an International Health Regulations lens
title_fullStr Initial response to SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) outbreak in Sri Lanka; views of public health specialists through an International Health Regulations lens
title_full_unstemmed Initial response to SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) outbreak in Sri Lanka; views of public health specialists through an International Health Regulations lens
title_short Initial response to SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) outbreak in Sri Lanka; views of public health specialists through an International Health Regulations lens
title_sort initial response to sars-cov-2 (covid-19) outbreak in sri lanka; views of public health specialists through an international health regulations lens
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10637679/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37948434
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0293521
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