Mitigation strategies in early phase of COVID-19 pandemic and recovery potential in Nigeria and United States
Year: 2021
Type: article
Abstract: Background: In response to the ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, much uncertainty exists in low- and middle-income countries like Nigeria about the effects of different mitigation strategies on the trajectory and impact of the disease transmission given how high-income countries like the United States (US) with even better infrastructures have been impacted. Further uncertainty stems particularly from the significant challenges in a country’s health system, economy and food security prior to the emergence of the pandemic. The objective of this study was to compare the physical and psychosocial mitigation strategies during early phase of COVID-19 pandemic and recovery potential in Nigeria and US. Methods: We performed a secondary data review of relevant studies and reports searched on PubMed, Google Scholar and Google databases. Data were analyzed using content analysis and grounded theory methods. Results: We showed that the implementation of biomedical mitigation strategies during COVID-19 pandemic lockdown without physical and psychosocial mitigation strategies such as food supply and financial incentive puts Nigeria at risk of further crises while the US, though on the path of a long-term recovery, faced similar risk as well from protests despite availability of food and financial supports. Conclusion: The lack of food supply and financial incentive during COVID-19 pandemic lockdown in Nigeria, and associated negative impact on recovery highlight the need for provision of social welfare packages for its citizens to mitigate the physical and psychosocial effects of the COVID-19 pandemic (e.g. violence). Evidence of protests in the US warrants intensified risk communication interventions. Keywords: COVID-19, mitigation, community wellness, recovery. Résumé Contexte: En réponse à la pandémie de coronavirus en cours de 2019 (COVID-19), une grande incertitude existe dans les pays à revenu faible et intermédiaire comme le Nigéria quant aux effets des différentes stratégies d’atténuation sur la trajectoire et l’impact de la transmission de la maladie compte tenu de la des pays à revenu comme les États-Unis (États-Unis) dotés d’infrastructures encore meilleures ont été touchés. L’incertitude supplémentaire découle en particulier des défis importants du système de santé, de l’économie et de la sécurité alimentaire d’un pays avant l’émergence de la pandémie. L’objectif de cette étude était de comparer les stratégies d’atténuation physiques et psychosociales au cours de la phase précoce de la pandémie de COVID-19 et le potentiel de rétablissement au Nigéria et aux États-Unis. Méthodes: Nous avons effectué un examen des données secondaires des études et des rapports pertinents recherchés dans les bases de données PubMed, Google Scholar et Google. Les données ont été analysées à l’aide d’une analyse de contenu et de méthodes théoriques fondées. Résultats: Nous avons montré que la mise en œuvre de stratégies d’atténuation biomédicale pendant le verrouillage de la pandémie COVID-19 sans stratégies d’atténuation physique et psychosociale telles que l’approvisionnement alimentaire et les incitations financières met le Nigéria en danger de nouvelles crises tandis que les États-Unis, bien que sur la voie d’un long terme la reprise, a également fait face à un risque similaire à cause des manifestations malgré la disponibilité de la nourriture et des aides financières. Conclusion: Le manque d’approvisionnement alimentaire et d’incitation financière pendant le verrouillage de la pandémie de COVID-19 au Nigéria, et l’impact négatif associé sur le rétablissement mettent en évidence la nécessité de fournir des programmes de protection sociale pour ses citoyens afin d’atténuer les effets physiques et psychosociaux de la pandémie de COVID-19 (ex. violence). Les preuves de manifestations aux États-Unis justifient une intensification des interventions de communication des risques. Mots clés: COVID-19, atténuation, bien-être communautaire, rétablissement. Introduction The human existence has been threatened by pandemics such as plagues, small pox and the ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak [1]. The COVID-19 outbreak was first reported in Wuhan, China on December 31, 2019. Prior to its emergence, some parts of the world were equally hit by other coronaviruses namely Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) [2,3]. Following the World Health Organization (WHO)’s declaration of the outbreak as a pandemic on March 11, 2020, the number of cases and deaths worldwide has been on the increase, with different countries disproportionately affected [4]. As of April 8, 2020, a total of 1,353,361 COVID-19 cases including 79,235 deaths had been reported globally with the case-fatality rate being 5.8%, which is lower than 10% and 36% reported for SARS and MERS respectively [3,5]. Evidence so far indicates that COVID-19 virus infects humans of all ages but the risk of the disease severity is higher among elderly and people with pre-existing health conditions such as heart diseases and diabetes [4]. Globally, COVID-19 just like other pandemics has posed serious health, economic and socio-political challenges [6-9]. While this pandemic burden varies within and between regions, it is unclear why high-income countries with advanced technology and better health system like the US, had recorded higher cases of COVID19 infection and death while low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) like Nigeria with poorer infrastructures had low figures [5,10-11]. Though, a study observed that Nigeria and other LMICs were at higher risk of impact, but this has been to the contrary, even though many factors could have contributed to this outcome [12]. Several biomedical mitigation strategies such as social distancing, hand hygiene and quarantine have been shown to be effective in curbing the spread of the infectious agents implicated in previous pandemics [3]. However, there is scarcity of data on physical and psychosocial mitigation strategies for pandemics. Hence, we attempted to primarily compare the physical and psychosocial mitigation strategies during early phase of COVID-19 pandemic and their implications on recovery or further crises outcomes in Nigeria and US. Rationale for Nigeria and US Comparison The rationale for this study was to gain insight into the mitigation strategies towards COVID-19 pandemic in LMICs like Nigeria, with weak health systems compared to advanced economies with better health systems to draw lessons for policy and practice implications. Hence, the US was randomly selected by balloting among the advanced economies including France, Germany, Canada, Italy, United Kingdom, Japan and Russia. Relevance of studyPrevious studies on this subject matter only focused on biomedical strategies to mitigating the spread of COVID19 virus and also the health impact of the pandemic [6, 13] and did not assess the physical and psychosocial factors that could potentially influence the further spread of COVID-19 virus and recovery potential from the pandemic. Conceptual clarification and frameworks Community Wellness: is defined as “the optimal state of health of individuals and groups” according to WHO”. Hence, community wellness is said to be achieved when the health of individuals in a particular geographical location is optimal and they are also able to fulfill their roles in the society [14]. Food security: Based on World Food Summit definition, food security “is a situation that exists when all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life” [15]. Food insecurity is “transitory” when there is a sudden drop in the ability to secure food due to unusual circumstances e.g. pandemic, variation in food prices etc. [16]. Health systemAccording to WHO consist of “all organizations, people and actions whose primary intent is to promote, restore or maintain health”. For a health system to achieve its goals, it has to carry out some basic functions which have been identified as “the six building blocks of a health system” namely health service delivery; health workforce; health information system; medical products, vaccines and technologies; health financing and leadership/governance [17]. Economic stabilityDenotes a situation where a nation’s financial system manifests only a slight fluctuation in output growth and consist of inbuilt mechanism to maintain inflation rate at a low level. Output growth is usually measured among other indices by the gross domestic product (GDP) and employment [18]. Disaster recovery: is one of the phases of the disaster management cycle. Disaster recovery is “an opportunity for reflecting on the root causes of a disaster and recasting development priorities to reduce human vulnerability to natural hazards”. Inreduce human vulnerability to natural hazards”. In effect, the aim according to WHO is “re-establishing the economic, social and cultural life of the people affected and to rebuild damaged areas” [19]. Based on understanding from the “syndemic model of health” which describes how social and environmental factors interact synergistically with diseases to promote their transmission and unfavourable health outcomes,[20] the impact of theabove concepts on COVID-19 pandemic is shown in fig 1.(Check pdf file for diagram)In addition, we used an adapted framework of Interagency Working Group on Behavioural Health and Pandemic Influenza as shown in fig 2 to describe the potential psychosocial consequences of a pandemic [21]. The concept described in this framework is consistent with the findings of studies specific to the past SARS outbreak and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic [22-24]. Frameworks descriptionFig 1 showed the biosocial complex of interactions with COVID-19 pandemic. At the biological level, COVID19 virus adv
Authors: KO Ogunyemi, DO Alao, M. Alao, O Abiodun
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W3196320355