Since early 2020, the Meeting Targets and Maintaining Epidemic Control (EpiC) project has supported partner governments in 54 countries to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. Technical assistance provided by the EpiC project adapted to country needs as the pandemic evolved. Our support included:
STRENGTHENING CLINICAL CARE CAPACITY
- Developing or adapting national guidelines to reflect rapidly evolving evidence in COVID-19 clinical care.
- Improving capacity for critical care of severe COVID-19 in hospital settings.
- Strengthening clinical case management through trainings, including in-person and self-paced virtual trainings; establishing clinical communities of practice; incorporating quality improvement approaches for applied learning across settings; delivering clinical update webinars; and creating and disseminating online training tools and guides.
- Supporting an approach known as Test to Treat, which integrates COVID-19 clinical management into routine health service delivery at all levels of care.
ROLLING OUT COVID-19 VACCINATION PROGRAMS
- Supporting governments to plan and roll out emergency vaccination programs when the COVID-19 vaccine was introduced.
- Increasing COVID-19 vaccine coverage by improving service delivery.
- Generating demand for COVID-19 vaccines through community engagement, traditional and social media campaigns, events, and communications materials.
- Guiding the integration of COVID-19 vaccination into routine immunization programs, from national immunization schedule guidelines to facility-based storage, delivery and inventory management workflows. This comprehensive integration aimed to increase COVID-19 vaccine coverage while also repairing routine immunization of children and adults, which suffered profound interruption during the height of the pandemic.
STRENGTHENING MEDICAL OXYGEN ECOSYSTEMS
- Procuring and installing oxygen and related infrastructure, equipment and commodities.
- Building capacity of facility staff to monitor and maintain oxygen infrastructure and equipment.
- Training health care workers to provide oxygen therapy, from bedside administration and titration to troubleshooting equipment.
- Developing clinical guidelines for treatment of patients with medical oxygen.
- Developing nonclinical guidelines for maintenance and repair of oxygen systems.
- Creating sustainability plans to ensure long-term viability of investments in oxygen.
SUPPORTING THE HEALTH WORKFORCE
- Strengthening infection prevention and control in facilities across all levels of health care.
- Addressing the mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) needs of health care workers through evidence-based individual MHPSS interventions, structural and operational changes, and national occupational health strategies.
- Supporting strategic human resources management to improve staffing plans for surge needs and remote-area clinical operations.
- Providing pre-service and in-service training to build clinical skills across a range of topics relevant to caring for patients presenting with acute respiratory illness.
- Accreditation of coursework for health care workers to incentivize participation and contribute to recognized professional development.
- Engaging community health workers in COVID-19 response activities.
PROCURING ESSENTIAL SUPPLIES
- Procuring critical consumables and supplies, including personal protective equipment, oxygen delivery equipment, patient monitors, pressure swing adsorption oxygen-generating plants and other consumables.
BUILDING DIAGNOSTIC AND LABORATORY CAPACITY
- Procuring lab equipment, reagents and IT equipment.
- Training laboratory staff in genomic sequencing, rapid and PCR testing, biosafety and biosecurity, contact tracing, and data system management.
- Developing standard operating procedures and guidelines.
RISK COMMUNICATION AND COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
- Designing innovative and bidirectional risk communication strategies to respond to emerging infectious diseases.
- Developing subnational risk communication structures.
- Addressing the role of misinformation, disinformation and rumors in COVID-19 response activities through active listening, community-based champions, and targeted information and communication campaigns.
- Amplifying the role of community leaders in community engagement, promoting community-led risk communication campaigns and recruiting influencers, religious figures, youth leaders, schools and the private sector to champion important health messages.
The COVID-19 pandemic and other recent outbreaks have reinforced the need to invest in global health security to prevent, detect and respond to emerging pathogens. EpiC is applying lessons learned from four years of COVID-19 response efforts, as the project now partners with governments to strengthen pandemic preparedness and global health security.
Read more about EpiC’s HIV efforts.
Read more about EpiC’s mpox efforts.
