Department of Global Health, University of Washington, Washington, Seattle, United States of America.
National Public Health Institute, Ministry of Health, Nairobi, Kenya.
PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2023 Jun 26;17(6):e0011368. doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0011368. eCollection 2023 Jun.
The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted essential health services, including those provided by national neglected tropical disease (NTD) programs. Most mass drug administration (MDA) programs were postponed for 6-12 months following World Health Organization guidance released in April 2020 to temporarily halt NTD programs and launch necessary COVID-19 precautions. While NTD-endemic countries have since resumed MDA activities, it is critical to understand implementers' perspectives on the key challenges and opportunities for program relaunch, as these insights are critical for maximizing gains towards disease control and elimination during public health emergencies. Using data from using online surveys and focus group discussions, this mixed-methods study sought perspectives from Ministry of Health NTD Program Managers and implementing partners from non-governmental organizations working in sub-Saharan Africa. Data analysis revealed that findings converged around several main themes: disruptions for MDA programs included resource shortages due to prioritization of pandemic response, challenges adhering to COVID-19 safety protocols, and community hesitancy due to coronavirus transmission fears. Identified solutions for restarting MDA programs focused on adapting intervention delivery and packaging to minimize disease transmission, embracing technology to optimize intervention planning and delivery, and identifying opportunities to promote program integration between pandemic response strategies and NTD campaign delivery. Findings identifies key challenges due to disruptions to NTD program delivery and provide strategic recommendations for endemic countries to build resilient programs that can continue to perform during and beyond global pandemics.
新冠疫情大流行扰乱了基本卫生服务,包括国家被忽视的热带病(NTD)规划所提供的服务。根据 2020 年 4 月世界卫生组织发布的指导意见,大多数大规模药物治疗(MDA)规划被推迟了 6-12 个月,以暂时停止 NTD 规划并启动必要的新冠疫情防范措施。虽然 NTD 流行国家此后已恢复 MDA 活动,但了解实施者对重新启动规划的主要挑战和机遇的看法至关重要,因为这些见解对于在公共卫生紧急情况下最大限度地实现疾病控制和消除的目标至关重要。本混合方法研究利用来自撒哈拉以南非洲的在线调查和焦点小组讨论的数据,从国家卫生部门 NTD 规划管理人员和非政府组织的实施伙伴的角度收集观点。数据分析显示,研究结果集中在几个主要主题上:MDA 规划的中断包括因大流行应对而优先考虑资源短缺、遵守新冠疫情安全协议的挑战以及因担心冠状病毒传播而导致社区犹豫不决。重新启动 MDA 规划的解决方案侧重于调整干预措施的提供和包装,以最大程度地减少疾病传播、利用技术优化干预规划和提供以及确定机会,将大流行应对策略与 NTD 运动提供相结合。研究结果确定了因 NTD 规划提供中断而带来的主要挑战,并为流行国家提供了战略建议,以建立具有弹性的规划,以便在全球大流行期间和之后继续发挥作用。
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