Department of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine and Surgery, University of Malta, Malta.
Dipartimento di Sanita Pubblica della AUSL Romagna-Cesena, Italy.
Health Policy. 2022 Apr;126(4):281-286. doi: 10.1016/j.healthpol.2022.01.008. Epub 2022 Jan 21.
The aim of this paper is to compare the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on four small countries in the southern half of Europe with similar public health systems: San Marino, Montenegro, Malta and Cyprus, the latter two being island states. There are advantages and disadvantages in being a small nation amidst this crisis. The centralized public health administration means that small countries are faster at adapting as they learn and evolve on a weekly basis. However, small countries tend to be dependent on their bigger neighbours, and the networks they belong to, for trade, food, medical supplies as well as policies. The risk threshold taken by a small country for the transition strategy has to be less than that taken by a bigger country because if things go wrong in a border region, there is less resilience in a small country, with immediate impact on the whole country. The blow to the tourism industry, which plays a main role especially in small countries, negatively impacted the economy, and it has been a feat to reach a balance between allowing the flow of inbound tourists and keeping the local infection rates under control.
本文旨在比较 COVID-19 大流行对四个位于欧洲南部、公共卫生系统相似的小国的影响：圣马力诺、黑山、马耳他和塞浦路斯，后两者为岛国。在这场危机中，作为一个小国既有优势也有劣势。集中的公共卫生管理意味着小国能够更快地适应，因为它们每周都在学习和发展。然而，小国往往依赖于它们更大的邻国以及它们所属的网络，进行贸易、食品、医疗用品以及政策方面的交流。小国为过渡战略所承担的风险阈值必须低于大国，因为如果边境地区出现问题，小国的弹性就会降低，对整个国家都会产生直接影响。旅游业是小国的主要产业之一，受到重创，对经济产生了负面影响，在允许入境游客流动和控制当地感染率之间取得平衡是一项壮举。
