NYMC Faculty Publications
Strategic Response to COVID-19 in Ethiopia
Author Type(s)
Faculty
DOI
10.5588/pha.22.0007
Journal Title
Public Health Action
First Page
191
Last Page
194
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
12-21-2022
Department
Medicine
Abstract
COVID-19, the novel coronavirus, has posed a major threat to low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) due to inadequate health infrastructure and human resources. Ethiopia, a low-income country with the second largest population in Africa, has coordinated a strategic response, leveraging existing infrastructure and health systems and mobilizing public health professionals and specialist expert physicians for a multifaceted, unified government approach and adaptive response. Resource limitations, particularly in critical care, have still posed challenges, but the public health and clinical interventions thus far have prevented the catastrophic toll that many predicted. As the pandemic continues, Ethiopia expects to use a triple care model integrated at all levels, consisting of COVID-19 care, isolation care for suspected cases, and essential health services, and urges intensified non-pharmaceutical interventions alongside equitable global vaccine distribution as the ultimate answers to pandemic control. This paper draws on existing data, national planning and guidelines, and expertise from health leadership to describe this response in hopes of providing an example of how future large-scale health challenges might be faced in LMICs, using Ethiopia's successes and challenges in facing the pandemic.
Recommended Citation
Huluka, D. K., Ashagrie, A. W., Gebremariam, T. H., Ahmed, H. Y., Kebede, R. A., Binegdie, A. B., Gebrehiwot, K. G., Tadesse, M., Sultan, M., Dode, W. W., Tumebo, A. A., Abayneh, A., Seman, Y., Firew, T., Sherman, C. B., Schluger, N. W., & Haisch, D. A. (2022). Strategic Response to COVID-19 in Ethiopia. Public Health Action, 12 (4), 191-194. https://doi.org/10.5588/pha.22.0007