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COVID-19 mitigation measures to maintain access to essential health services: new opportunities with long-term benefits

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has substantially impacted health systems globally. To highlight potential opportunities to improve health service delivery in low- and middle-income countries, we describe lessons learned from published literature and experiences responding to the pa...

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Autores principales: Lickness, Jacquelyn, Bachanas, Pamela, Tohme, Rania, Russell, Anna, Craig, Allen, Hakim, Avi
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: The African Field Epidemiology Network 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8856970/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35251448
http://dx.doi.org/10.11604/pamj.2021.40.254.31264
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author Lickness, Jacquelyn
Bachanas, Pamela
Tohme, Rania
Russell, Anna
Craig, Allen
Hakim, Avi
author_facet Lickness, Jacquelyn
Bachanas, Pamela
Tohme, Rania
Russell, Anna
Craig, Allen
Hakim, Avi
author_sort Lickness, Jacquelyn
collection PubMed
description The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has substantially impacted health systems globally. To highlight potential opportunities to improve health service delivery in low- and middle-income countries, we describe lessons learned from published literature and experiences responding to the pandemic. The benefits of healthcare service measures implemented during the pandemic with potential for lasting benefits for strengthening health systems are highlighted: 1) innovative pharmaceutical dispensing methods; 2) appointment-based systems in health facilities; 3) telehealth to provide patient care; 4) task shifting to redistribute healthcare workloads; and 5) home-based pulse oximetry to monitor oxygen levels. These measures can reduce unnecessary contact with healthcare staff while maintaining critical health service delivery and may be of value to continue after the pandemic subsides.
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spelling pubmed-88569702022-03-04 COVID-19 mitigation measures to maintain access to essential health services: new opportunities with long-term benefits Lickness, Jacquelyn Bachanas, Pamela Tohme, Rania Russell, Anna Craig, Allen Hakim, Avi Pan Afr Med J Commentary The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has substantially impacted health systems globally. To highlight potential opportunities to improve health service delivery in low- and middle-income countries, we describe lessons learned from published literature and experiences responding to the pandemic. The benefits of healthcare service measures implemented during the pandemic with potential for lasting benefits for strengthening health systems are highlighted: 1) innovative pharmaceutical dispensing methods; 2) appointment-based systems in health facilities; 3) telehealth to provide patient care; 4) task shifting to redistribute healthcare workloads; and 5) home-based pulse oximetry to monitor oxygen levels. These measures can reduce unnecessary contact with healthcare staff while maintaining critical health service delivery and may be of value to continue after the pandemic subsides. The African Field Epidemiology Network 2021-12-21 /pmc/articles/PMC8856970/ /pubmed/35251448 http://dx.doi.org/10.11604/pamj.2021.40.254.31264 Text en Copyright: Jacquelyn Lickness et al. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/The Pan African Medical Journal (ISSN: 1937-8688). This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution International 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Commentary
Lickness, Jacquelyn
Bachanas, Pamela
Tohme, Rania
Russell, Anna
Craig, Allen
Hakim, Avi
COVID-19 mitigation measures to maintain access to essential health services: new opportunities with long-term benefits
title COVID-19 mitigation measures to maintain access to essential health services: new opportunities with long-term benefits
title_full COVID-19 mitigation measures to maintain access to essential health services: new opportunities with long-term benefits
title_fullStr COVID-19 mitigation measures to maintain access to essential health services: new opportunities with long-term benefits
title_full_unstemmed COVID-19 mitigation measures to maintain access to essential health services: new opportunities with long-term benefits
title_short COVID-19 mitigation measures to maintain access to essential health services: new opportunities with long-term benefits
title_sort covid-19 mitigation measures to maintain access to essential health services: new opportunities with long-term benefits
topic Commentary
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8856970/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35251448
http://dx.doi.org/10.11604/pamj.2021.40.254.31264
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