Satpathy Parmeshwar, Singh Arvind K, Agarwal Neeraj, Majumdar Anindo, Goel Akhil D, Yadav Kapil
Department of Community Medicine, Dr. B. C. Roy Multi Speciality Medical Research Centre, IIT Kharagpur, West Bengal, India.
Department of Community Medicine and Family Medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India.
J Family Med Prim Care. 2022 Jan;11(1):18-26. doi: 10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_31_21. Epub 2022 Jan 31.
Since the onset of the COVID-19 Pandemic, various public health measures have been in focus, viz. social distancing, hand hygiene, use of masks, screening of patients for COVID-19 symptoms, development of quarantine and isolation facilities, and public health surveillance. Most of these relate to the principles of prevention, early case detection, and primary care. In the ongoing fight against COVID-19, community medicine (CM) professionals are involved at various positions and have been leading from the front in a variety of activities, be it screening, patient care, surveillance, orientation and training of front line workers, community engagement, evidence generation through research, and development of guidelines. However, their engagement in policymaking has still been limited. The government should work more closely with CM professionals in order to stem the tide of COVID-19 or any such public health emergencies in the future by shifting the focus to preventive and promotive interventions. CM professionals should take a more proactive approach in getting involved in policymaking and demonstrate leadership through their actions to lead the national, state, and district-level public health teams through collaboration across disciplines and sectors. This will help bring the leadership of public health in India in the right hands for optimum population health and appropriate and timely health emergency response.
自新冠疫情爆发以来，各种公共卫生措施一直备受关注，即社交距离、手部卫生、口罩使用、对有新冠症状患者的筛查、检疫和隔离设施的建设以及公共卫生监测。其中大多数都与预防、早期病例发现和初级保健原则相关。在当前抗击新冠疫情的斗争中，社区医学专业人员在各个岗位发挥作用，并在各种活动中发挥了带头作用，无论是筛查、患者护理、监测、对一线工作人员的指导和培训、社区参与、通过研究生成证据还是制定指南。然而，他们在政策制定方面的参与仍然有限。政府应与社区医学专业人员更紧密合作，通过将重点转向预防和促进性干预措施，以在未来遏制新冠疫情或任何此类公共卫生紧急情况的浪潮。社区医学专业人员应采取更积极主动的方式参与政策制定，并通过行动展现领导力，跨学科和跨部门协作，带领国家、州和地区层面的公共卫生团队。这将有助于让印度的公共卫生领导权掌握在合适的人手中，以实现最佳的人群健康以及适当和及时的卫生应急响应。
