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Children and the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic: a Caribbean perspective

This study aims to assess coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) surveillance methods, health resources, vaccination coverage and income stratification and quantify burdens of disease and death in children and adolescents in the Caribbean. The investigation was a descriptive, cross-sectional study that...

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Autores principales: Evans-Gilbert, Tracy, Lashley, Paula Michele, Lerebours, Emmeline, Sin Quee, Corrine, Singh-Minott, Indira, Fernandes, Maritza, Thomas, Joycelyn Walter, Nelson, Beverly, Braithwaite, Jozan, Hambleton, Ian
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Organización Panamericana de la Salud 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9426950/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36060198
http://dx.doi.org/10.26633/RPSP.2022.135
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author Evans-Gilbert, Tracy
Lashley, Paula Michele
Lerebours, Emmeline
Sin Quee, Corrine
Singh-Minott, Indira
Fernandes, Maritza
Thomas, Joycelyn Walter
Nelson, Beverly
Braithwaite, Jozan
Hambleton, Ian
author_facet Evans-Gilbert, Tracy
Lashley, Paula Michele
Lerebours, Emmeline
Sin Quee, Corrine
Singh-Minott, Indira
Fernandes, Maritza
Thomas, Joycelyn Walter
Nelson, Beverly
Braithwaite, Jozan
Hambleton, Ian
author_sort Evans-Gilbert, Tracy
collection PubMed
description This study aims to assess coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) surveillance methods, health resources, vaccination coverage and income stratification and quantify burdens of disease and death in children and adolescents in the Caribbean. The investigation was a descriptive, cross-sectional study that included 15 Caribbean countries/territories and utilized surveys and secondary data sources. Quarantine and isolation measures were robust and surveillance strategies were similar. Pediatric specialists were available across the region, but few had designated pediatric hospitals or high-dependency units. There were more cases in children on islands with larger populations. Compared to high-income countries/territories, upper and lower middle-income countries/territories had higher disease burdens, fewer doctors and nurses per 1 000 population, lower bed capacities, and lower vaccination coverage. Child and adolescent cases ranged from 0.60% to 16.9%, compared with a global case rate of 20.2% in 2021. By August 2021 there were 33 deaths among children from Haiti, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and Barbados. The respective case fatality rates for 0–9-year-olds and 10–19-year-olds were 2.80 and 0.70 in Haiti, 0.10 and 0.20 in Jamaica, and 0.00 and 0.14 in Trinidad, compared with 0.17 and 0.1 globally. Overall COVID-19 incidence and mortality in children were consistent with global estimates. Limited resources have been offset by availability of pediatricians across the region, and minimally direct effects on children. Prioritization of admission of specific at-risk groups, training of first responders and vaccination campaigns targeting pregnant women and vulnerable children and adolescents could benefit countries with low vaccine coverage rates and limited resources.
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spelling pubmed-94269502022-09-01 Children and the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic: a Caribbean perspective Evans-Gilbert, Tracy Lashley, Paula Michele Lerebours, Emmeline Sin Quee, Corrine Singh-Minott, Indira Fernandes, Maritza Thomas, Joycelyn Walter Nelson, Beverly Braithwaite, Jozan Hambleton, Ian Rev Panam Salud Publica Brief Communication This study aims to assess coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) surveillance methods, health resources, vaccination coverage and income stratification and quantify burdens of disease and death in children and adolescents in the Caribbean. The investigation was a descriptive, cross-sectional study that included 15 Caribbean countries/territories and utilized surveys and secondary data sources. Quarantine and isolation measures were robust and surveillance strategies were similar. Pediatric specialists were available across the region, but few had designated pediatric hospitals or high-dependency units. There were more cases in children on islands with larger populations. Compared to high-income countries/territories, upper and lower middle-income countries/territories had higher disease burdens, fewer doctors and nurses per 1 000 population, lower bed capacities, and lower vaccination coverage. Child and adolescent cases ranged from 0.60% to 16.9%, compared with a global case rate of 20.2% in 2021. By August 2021 there were 33 deaths among children from Haiti, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and Barbados. The respective case fatality rates for 0–9-year-olds and 10–19-year-olds were 2.80 and 0.70 in Haiti, 0.10 and 0.20 in Jamaica, and 0.00 and 0.14 in Trinidad, compared with 0.17 and 0.1 globally. Overall COVID-19 incidence and mortality in children were consistent with global estimates. Limited resources have been offset by availability of pediatricians across the region, and minimally direct effects on children. Prioritization of admission of specific at-risk groups, training of first responders and vaccination campaigns targeting pregnant women and vulnerable children and adolescents could benefit countries with low vaccine coverage rates and limited resources. Organización Panamericana de la Salud 2022-08-30 /pmc/articles/PMC9426950/ /pubmed/36060198 http://dx.doi.org/10.26633/RPSP.2022.135 Text en https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 IGO License, which permits use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. No modifications or commercial use of this article are permitted. In any reproduction of this article there should not be any suggestion that PAHO or this article endorse any specific organization or products. The use of the PAHO logo is not permitted. This notice should be preserved along with the article’s original URL. Open access logo and text by PLoS, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
spellingShingle Brief Communication
Evans-Gilbert, Tracy
Lashley, Paula Michele
Lerebours, Emmeline
Sin Quee, Corrine
Singh-Minott, Indira
Fernandes, Maritza
Thomas, Joycelyn Walter
Nelson, Beverly
Braithwaite, Jozan
Hambleton, Ian
Children and the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic: a Caribbean perspective
title Children and the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic: a Caribbean perspective
title_full Children and the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic: a Caribbean perspective
title_fullStr Children and the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic: a Caribbean perspective
title_full_unstemmed Children and the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic: a Caribbean perspective
title_short Children and the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic: a Caribbean perspective
title_sort children and the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic: a caribbean perspective
topic Brief Communication
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9426950/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36060198
http://dx.doi.org/10.26633/RPSP.2022.135
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