COVID-19 in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs): A Narrative Review from Prevention to Vaccination Strategy
The management of the COVID-19 pandemic represents a challenging process, especially for low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) due to the serious economic and health resource problems it generates. In this article, we assess COVID-19 situation in LMICs and outline emerging problems and possible s...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2021-12-01
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| Series: | Vaccines |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-393X/9/12/1477 |
| _version_ | 1827669158584647680 |
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| author | Sansone Pasquale Giaccari Luca Gregorio Aurilio Caterina Coppolino Francesco Passavanti Maria Beatrice Pota Vincenzo Pace Maria Caterina |
| author_facet | Sansone Pasquale Giaccari Luca Gregorio Aurilio Caterina Coppolino Francesco Passavanti Maria Beatrice Pota Vincenzo Pace Maria Caterina |
| author_sort | Sansone Pasquale |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The management of the COVID-19 pandemic represents a challenging process, especially for low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) due to the serious economic and health resource problems it generates. In this article, we assess COVID-19 situation in LMICs and outline emerging problems and possible solutions. The prevention and control of COVID-19 would be based on focused tests exploiting those systems (e.g., GeneXpert<sup>®</sup>) already used in other scenarios. This would be less stressful for the healthcare system in LMICs. Avoiding close contact with people suffering from acute respiratory infections, frequent handwashing, and avoiding unprotected contact with farm or wild animals are recommended infection control interventions. The appropriate use of personal protective equipment (PPE) is required, despite its procurement being especially difficult in LMICs. Patients’ triage should be based on a simple and rapid logarithm to decide who requires isolation and targeted testing for SARS-CoV-2. Being able to estimate which patients will develop severe disease would allow hospitals to better utilize the already limited resources more effectively. In LMICs, laboratories are often in the capital cities; therefore, early diagnosis and isolation become difficult. The number of ICU beds is often insufficient, and the equipment is often old and poorly serviced. LMICs will need access to COVID-19 treatments at minimal prices to ensure that all who need them can be treated. Year-to-date, different vaccines have been approved and are currently available. The main obstacle to accessing them is the limited ability of LMICs to purchase significant quantities of the vaccine. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T03:56:33Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-df3a4a6edc2e45c3957fe6249903b4fc |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2076-393X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T03:56:33Z |
| publishDate | 2021-12-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Vaccines |
| spelling | doaj.art-df3a4a6edc2e45c3957fe6249903b4fc2023-11-23T10:54:53ZengMDPI AGVaccines2076-393X2021-12-01912147710.3390/vaccines9121477COVID-19 in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs): A Narrative Review from Prevention to Vaccination StrategySansone Pasquale0Giaccari Luca Gregorio1Aurilio Caterina2Coppolino Francesco3Passavanti Maria Beatrice4Pota Vincenzo5Pace Maria Caterina6Department of Woman, Child and General and Specialized Surgery, University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, 80138 Napoli, ItalyDepartment of Woman, Child and General and Specialized Surgery, University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, 80138 Napoli, ItalyDepartment of Woman, Child and General and Specialized Surgery, University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, 80138 Napoli, ItalyDepartment of Woman, Child and General and Specialized Surgery, University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, 80138 Napoli, ItalyDepartment of Woman, Child and General and Specialized Surgery, University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, 80138 Napoli, ItalyDepartment of Woman, Child and General and Specialized Surgery, University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, 80138 Napoli, ItalyDepartment of Woman, Child and General and Specialized Surgery, University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, 80138 Napoli, ItalyThe management of the COVID-19 pandemic represents a challenging process, especially for low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) due to the serious economic and health resource problems it generates. In this article, we assess COVID-19 situation in LMICs and outline emerging problems and possible solutions. The prevention and control of COVID-19 would be based on focused tests exploiting those systems (e.g., GeneXpert<sup>®</sup>) already used in other scenarios. This would be less stressful for the healthcare system in LMICs. Avoiding close contact with people suffering from acute respiratory infections, frequent handwashing, and avoiding unprotected contact with farm or wild animals are recommended infection control interventions. The appropriate use of personal protective equipment (PPE) is required, despite its procurement being especially difficult in LMICs. Patients’ triage should be based on a simple and rapid logarithm to decide who requires isolation and targeted testing for SARS-CoV-2. Being able to estimate which patients will develop severe disease would allow hospitals to better utilize the already limited resources more effectively. In LMICs, laboratories are often in the capital cities; therefore, early diagnosis and isolation become difficult. The number of ICU beds is often insufficient, and the equipment is often old and poorly serviced. LMICs will need access to COVID-19 treatments at minimal prices to ensure that all who need them can be treated. Year-to-date, different vaccines have been approved and are currently available. The main obstacle to accessing them is the limited ability of LMICs to purchase significant quantities of the vaccine.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-393X/9/12/1477COVID-19low-and middle-income countries (LMICs)infection preventiontriagevaccine |
| spellingShingle | Sansone Pasquale Giaccari Luca Gregorio Aurilio Caterina Coppolino Francesco Passavanti Maria Beatrice Pota Vincenzo Pace Maria Caterina COVID-19 in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs): A Narrative Review from Prevention to Vaccination Strategy Vaccines COVID-19 low-and middle-income countries (LMICs) infection prevention triage vaccine |
| title | COVID-19 in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs): A Narrative Review from Prevention to Vaccination Strategy |
| title_full | COVID-19 in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs): A Narrative Review from Prevention to Vaccination Strategy |
| title_fullStr | COVID-19 in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs): A Narrative Review from Prevention to Vaccination Strategy |
| title_full_unstemmed | COVID-19 in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs): A Narrative Review from Prevention to Vaccination Strategy |
| title_short | COVID-19 in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs): A Narrative Review from Prevention to Vaccination Strategy |
| title_sort | covid 19 in low and middle income countries lmics a narrative review from prevention to vaccination strategy |
| topic | COVID-19 low-and middle-income countries (LMICs) infection prevention triage vaccine |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-393X/9/12/1477 |
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