public health emergency covid 19

public health emergency covid 19

Public Health Measures to Combat COVID-19

1. Introduction

Measures provided for in the Agreement must be consistent with the temporary nature of some risks and the conditions necessary for import and maintenance of healthy conditions as a transitional means to achieving a phase in the protection of health.

The eradication of a particular disease in a country or region may be the most suitable policy when the specific resources required are available and the disease and its effects on health are sufficiently serious. This was the conclusion of an economic analysis of Foot and Mouth Disease control in the UK. However, insufficient resources may mean that restricted areas with certification of pest or disease-free status following controlled eradication methods will not be a feasible option, and alternative measures to prevent the spread and limit the effects of the disease within the existing resource constraints must be determined.

Initially, the state of science will determine the availability of knowledge of a disease and its transmission, the identification of a means to prevent or eliminate the disease, an evaluation of a specific risk to health, and what would be a measure more restrictive than necessary.

An application of the principle of Article 3 to this more limited context is that health measures should not be more trade restrictive than necessary to achieve the objective of protection. This will be interpreted in terms of the selection and implementation of measures at each phase in response to the identification or change of a risk. An important feature of this process is the need for the best use of existing human, material, and financial resources, as well as suitable provision of new resources in public health and related fields.

Sraffino and Caporale assess the conditions under which health measures are well-founded and the Agreement is consistent with their establishment and evaluation. This interpretation of the various aspects of the strategy for health protection under the Agreement will help to clarify the implications for health of all its provisions, but the focus will be on measures to protect against risks arising from trade.

The quality of life and health conditions are, of course, the ultimate goals of protection but may be expressed in terms of the prevention of specific diseases or conditions. Epidemiological evidence is needed to identify the risks and their nature and to provide an objective basis for the establishment of health measures and their assessment in terms of the protection of health. Decision making on the most appropriate measures depends on a consideration of their costs and benefits.

An interpretation of these articles in the light of the aims of the Agreement (Article 3) will help to define the strategy for the sanitary administration of the recommendations for measures in the Agreement, avoiding unnecessary economic restrictions. The measures outlined in Article 2 are safeguards to prevent the invasion of pests and diseases, as well as measures to protect human, animal, or plant life or health within the territory from risks arising from imports. The latter kind includes all risks within the terms of reference of the various national sanitary administrations but is the likely focus for health measures designed to comply with the Agreement.

Article 1 of the regulations annexed to the International Agreement for the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures provides for the establishment of a general goal regarding public health. The goal is to improve the quality of human life, its duration, and the conditions under which it is led. The measures to be put into practice to attain this goal are set out in Article 2.

2. Understanding COVID-19

Understanding the phenomenon to prevent the spread of COVID-19 is necessary for governments to make policies or measures to safeguard the health of their communities. The measures to prevent COVID-19 depend on the situation in each area and can be evaluated and adjusted in response to the COVID-19 situation. These measures include reducing interactions between people in every place, closing areas where people usually gather, increasing public awareness to use personal protection, and improving environmental cleanliness.

The report from the WHO-China Joint Mission on COVID-19 stated that mild illness can develop in most cases with a recovery time of about 2 weeks. However, in some cases, particularly in older people or people with underlying health issues, severe respiratory diseases such as pneumonia can occur, and in the worst situation, it can cause death. This severe condition usually develops more frequently in older individuals and people with underlying health issues. The incubation period for COVID-19 ranges from 1-14 days, with the most common period being around 5-6 days. During this period, people can spread the disease even if they do not show any symptoms.

From SARS-CoV to SARS-CoV-2, the pathogen that threatened on December 2019 to January 2020, it spread globally and took an official name from WHO known as COVID-19. This precise illness comes from a new pathogen family of illnesses and has never been seen before in humans or animals. Transmission of COVID-19 is through droplets from the nose while a person is sneezing or coughing, and it can infect people within a 1-meter radius of a COVID-19 positive patient. These droplets can stay on surfaces, including clothes, for several hours, making it easy for other people to get infected. The infection rate can differ from person to person, and it is still uncertain due to ongoing research to find the characteristics of the illness itself.

3. Effective Public Health Measures

Public health measures are strategies or interventions that are taken in a place to protect and improve the health of the people who live there. These measures can target people and the communities at large, or can focus on protection. Public health measures are practical, effective, and affordable. These measures can improve the health of the population levels. Measures such as these have a positive impact on social and economic development and are an investment in the future health of society. Measures that are effective in health promotion and disease prevention, such as policy changes that create supportive environments, have a far greater potential than more treatment. Treatment has been the focus of the medical care system to date, although efforts to increase prevention and health promotion are gaining momentum. Moreover, many measures that are not directly related to health serve health purposes, such as education policy or an agricultural policy to increase food supply. In recognizing these measures, health impact assessment can provide an evidence base for policy alternatives and advocate for health improvement. Ultimately, the goal of public health measures is to improve the health of a population. This means an entire community, city, state, or nation. In taking a class, administering vaccination against meningitis to high school students is an example of public health measures. The health of the targeted population increased. On the other hand, an individual primary care provider makes conscious efforts to improve his own health and adopt healthy behaviors, but it is uncertain whether those efforts will affect the health of his patient population.

4. Importance of Vaccination

Vaccination would also bring indirect positive impacts towards public health. By acquiring immunity towards the virus, it would reduce the fears of the public and decrease the chances of another occurring mass hysteria, or people engaging in acts of blatant prejudice and discrimination as seen in past pandemics. Vaccination is also a cost-effective measure in the prevention of COVID-19. Compared to the financial and emotional costs associated with the treatments and antibiotics of another COVID-19 related disease, the cost of a vaccination is minimal in the prevention of the disease.

Another evidence-based approach to slow down or stop the spread of a pandemic is through the use of a vaccine. For COVID-19, vaccination is vital as it is the main strategy to build up immunity and is particularly important when there is currently no immunity in the population against the virus. Vaccination is a safety measure to protect the community from a deadly virus and is especially important in protecting the vulnerable and those who are at higher risk of severe disease. For these individuals, it may not be safe or effective for them to receive vaccinations with live attenuated viral vaccines, making herd immunity through the use of COVID-19 vaccine even more important.

5. Conclusion

In conclusion, the key strategy that has been used worldwide and is strongly recommended is social distancing as a measure for controlling the spread of the infection, early identification of cases and isolation, contact tracing, and quarantine. However, with the limitations of some countries, especially the developing countries, this strategy may be difficult to be implemented. There has been evidence that this strategy has worked in some countries such as South Korea. The opposite strategy of herd immunity should be avoided because it will cost a lot of lives and the health system will collapse. The border measures have been widely used as well with travel restrictions and bans, but there wasn’t a strong study that can justify the effectiveness of this measure. Therefore, further study should be done to assess the impact of border measures on the infection rates in the country. For case isolation and treatment, this is important to reduce the infection rates and it will lessen the burden of the health system. However, with limited resources in the country, this might not be feasible to be done simultaneously. Personal protective equipment, especially masks and respiratory protection, have been widely demanded to be used by the public. While there has been evidence that this can slow the spread of the infection, there is an escalating demand with a limited supply of this equipment. This has raised the prices of the equipment, and the poor will have difficulties buying it. With all these measures combined, there is a need to prevent and control the spread of false information. The public should be well informed with the latest evidence-based information on the infection, and the authorities should take action to prevent the spread of false information.