Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19): News and Information
News and information about COVID-19.
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News5 Minute ReadApr | 20 | 2020
With many health systems in resource-limited settings across the globe already struggling to meet the needs of their patients, how can health officials cope with the rising COVID-19 pandemic?
The challenges are clear. Without adequate hospital space, intensive care units or ventilators, the options for treating severely ill patients are few. Strategies to stop the community spread of the disease, such physical distancing and shelter in place orders are often not possible due to close working and living conditions and the need to personally secure food and other resources.
To address these challenges, it’s important to look back at what worked during previous disease outbreaks such as the 2010 cholera epidemic in Haiti and the 2014 Ebola outbreak in West Africa. This includes using strong community health networks to communicate about the disease, finding creative ways to increase patient capacity such as constructing open-air tents and building trust through open and honest communication.
This was the message from a team of global health experts during a Grand Rounds session at Massachusetts General Hospital on March 19, 2020.
“As a Boston medical community, we have the utmost concern for how the COVID-19 pandemic will evolve in low resource settings,” said Louise Ivers, MD, MPH, executive director of the Center for Global Health at Mass General. “This crisis requires us to recall our shared humanity and to work together for solutions so that no one is left behind.”
Dr. Ivers was joined by David Walton, MD, MPH, of Build Health International and Brigham and Women’s Hospital; Inobert Pierre, MD, of Health Equity International and St. Boniface Haiti; Quarraisha Abdool Karim, PhD, of the Centre for the Programme of AIDS Research in South Africa, Columbia University; and Paul Farmer, MD, PhD, of Partners In Health and Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
Here are some key takeaways from the presentation:
The Center for Global Health is hosting weekly seminars on the impact of COVID-19 in resource limited settings. Visit their website for a schedule of upcoming seminars, videos of past presentations and additional COVID-19 resources.
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The Department of Medicine presents a series of academic lectures on the impact of & response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
News and information about COVID-19.
In this video, Paul Biddinger, MD, director of the Center for Disaster Medicine, and Rochelle Walensky, MD, MPH, chief of Infectious Diseases, answer questions about COVID-19.