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Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Social Health Insurance Claims for High-Burden Diseases in the Philippines
From the Introduction: "As COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] continues to spread, governments are focused on tracking and managing COVID-19 cases and deaths. However, these numbers fail to capture the broader health impacts of the pandemic. In many low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) where health information and vital registry systems are relatively weak, the spillover health effects of the pandemic are seldom measured (Roberton, et al., 2020; Mikkelsen, Phillips, AbouZahr, & Setel, 2015). The Philippines has been severely affected by the pandemic. As of April 4, 2021, the country recorded 800,000 confirmed COVID 19 cases and 13,000 deaths (Department of Health, 2021). However, behind these numbers is the growing burden of non-COVID illnesses. [...] A better understanding of the direct and indirect health consequences of the pandemic would allow decision-makers to implement a more holistic and calibrated public health response. For this reason, we assess the extent and duration of changes in the use of essential health services in the Philippines. We analyzed the health insurance claims data from the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation or PhilHealth. We obtained monthly insurance claims of twelve (12) high burden diseases and the five (5) most common procedures from January 2018 to September 2020. These twelve (12) diseases account for about 50% of the total disease burden of the country (Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, 2021)."
Center for Global Development
Gilbert Ulep, Valerie; Paterno, Anton; Uy, Jhanna . . .
2021-05
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American School District Panel Winter 2021 COVID-19 Survey
From the Webpage: "A total of 434 district leaders from school districts and charter management organizations (CMOs) took the second survey of the American School District Panel between January 21 and March 5, 2021. This tool presents weighted survey results that are nationally representative of school districts in the United States."
RAND Corporation
Schwartz, Heather L.; Diliberti, Melissa; Grant, David . . .
2021
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EPA Has Sufficiently Managed Emergency Responses During the Pandemic but Needs to Procure More Supplies and Clarify Guidance
From the Document: "We performed this evaluation to determine whether the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency managed its resources for emergency responses to provide continued protection of human health and the environment during the coronavirus pandemic--that is, the SARS-CoV-2 [severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2] virus and resultant COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] disease. We also sought to examine whether the EPA provided sufficient protective measures to its on-scene coordinators, or OSCs, who respond to emergency incidents. We sent surveys to 239 OSCs in June 2020 and received responses from 127--a 53 percent response rate. We also interviewed all ten EPA regional Superfund and Emergency Management Division directors, as well as directors from the EPA's Office of Emergency Management."
United States. Environmental Protection Agency. Office of the Inspector General
Lovingood, Tina; Hanna, Steve; Morrand, Jonathan . . .
2020-09-28
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Final Report: Evaluation of the National Reconnaissance Office's COVID-19 Pandemic Response
From the Document: "The National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), Office of Inspector General (OIG) provides its memorandum report on the Evaluation of NRO's Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Pandemic Response. The OIG conducted this evaluation to identify any best practices implemented or challenges encountered by NRO Headquarters and selected field sites in responding to the pandemic. Areas of evaluation contained in this report include mission sustainment, policy, leadership, facilities and logistics, health and safety, communications, and human resources. This report is fundamentally informational and contains COVID-19 perspectives and opinions of NRO's leadership and workforce. The evaluation was directed by the NRO Inspector General (IG) and was not part of the OIG FY 2020 Annual Work Plan."
United States. National Reconnaissance Office
2020-10-13
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Opportunities Exist to Improve HUD's Communication to Renters About Eviction Protections
From the Introduction and Highlights: "As part of the Office of Inspector General's effort to provide oversight of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) relief efforts provided by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), we reviewed HUD's communication to renters regarding the eviction moratorium found in Section 4024. The objective of our review was to highlight the progress HUD has made and identify areas for improvement. [...] We found that HUD provided critical information to many of these renters through its website and published guidance. It created a web page specifically targeted to renters, helped create a joint website with other agencies to provide information to the public, published tenant flyers and brochures for some of its programs, and added a new search tool to its website for renters in multifamily properties. However, we identified several aspects of HUD's communication to renters on its website and published guidance that could be strengthened."
United States. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Office of Inspector General
Dahl, Kimberly S.
2020-10-13
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Analysis of U.S. Government Publishing Office (GPO) Survey of Employees
From the Document: "Our office conducted a two-part survey from August 14-24, 2020. The objective of the survey was to provide GPO [Government Publishing Office] leadership with valuable feedback on how COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] impacted each employee. The specific objectives were as follows: [1] 'Part 1. Operations and safety protocols during the pandemic'. To inform GPO leadership on how employees felt about their safety working in the GPO workplace during COVID-19. [2] 'Part 2. GPO's approach to working from home during COVID-19'. To inform GPO leadership about employee sentiment regarding the Information Technology (IT) support, communications, and other aspects related to their effectiveness while under maximum telework."
United States. Government Publishing Office. Office of Inspector General
2020-10-01
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Reopening Under Uncertainty: Stress-Testing California's COVID-19 Exit Strategy
From the Webpage: "The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic required significant public health interventions from local governments. Early in the pandemic, RAND researchers developed a decision support tool to provide policymakers with insight into the trade-offs they might face when choosing among nonpharmaceutical intervention levels. Using an updated version of the model, the researchers performed a stress-test of a variety of alternative reopening plans, using California as an example. This Perspective presents the general lessons learned from these experiments and discusses four characteristics of the best reopening strategies."
RAND Corporation
Nascimento de Lima, Pedro; Vardavas, Raffaele; Baker, Lawrence . . .
2021-05
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COVID-19 Response in Cities: Maintaining Your City's Public Safety and Emergency Response Services
From the Document: "Cities have moved quickly this year to provide many services remotely or at a safe social distance to reduce the spread of COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019], but public safety and emergency response present unique challenges. Police, fire, emergency medical services (EMS), and other first responders are responding to routine calls and emergencies that require them to be in closer personal contact with the public than other city employees. In addition, first responders often must cope with residents' mental health challenges layered atop the general stress of the pandemic. To the extent that a city is experiencing significant revenue losses, budget cuts may add further challenges to the provision of these critical services. Consider the [included] steps for protecting first responders and the general public while ensuring public safety in your city."
National League of Cities
2020-12?
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Date of Receipt of Claims and Mail Processing During the COVID-19 National State of Emergency
From the Executive Summary: "The VA [Department of Veterans Affairs] Office of Inspector General (OIG) conducted this review to determine whether Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) staff 1. implemented VA guidance for documenting the date of receipt for benefits-related correspondence during the COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] national state of emergency, as the date of receipt may establish when benefit entitlements begin; and 2. continued to process mail received at VA facilities during the same period to ensure benefit claims were still being processed."
United States. Department of Veterans Affairs. Office of Inspector General
2020-09-17
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USAID COVID-19 Activity Update: January - August 2020
From the About: "This brief provides information on USAID's [U.S. Agency for International Development] response to the COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] pandemic and associated challenges, as well as related oversight plans and activities. OIG [Office of Inspector General] prepared this informational brief to increase stakeholder knowledge and public transparency regarding these efforts. This brief reports on activities from the start of the COVID-19 pandemic through August 31, 2020. To produce this brief, OIG gathered data and information from Agency documents and interviews as well as from public sources. The sources of information contained in this document are cited in endnotes, tables, and figures. To provide timely reporting, OIG has not audited or verified all of the underlying data and information that forms the basis for this brief. OIG has provided USAID with opportunities to comment on the contents."
United States. Agency for International Development. Office of Inspector General
2020-09
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Audit of Screening and Quarantine Procedures for Personnel Entering Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar
From the Objective: "The objective of this audit was to determine whether the Air Force implemented screening and quarantine procedures for personnel entering Al Udeid Air Base (AUAB), Qatar, in accordance with applicable guidance in response to the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19). We were able to determine whether screening and quarantine procedures were developed; however, because no one failed the initial screening during our observations, we could not verify how effectively the quarantine procedures were implemented."
United States. Department of Defense. Office of the Inspector General
2020-09-24
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Management Information Report: Interim Report Regarding CARES Act Expenditures and Controls
From the Report Summary: "The Office of Inspector General works to provide oversight to all aspects of agency responsibility, which includes monitoring the implementation of significant provisions of laws and regulations and major projects to identify at-risk situations. Consistent with this approach, we examined the mobile phone purchase and the monitoring of the unemployment and sickness payments for potential fraud in response to the CARES [Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security] Act. The objective of this interim review is to provide RRB [Railroad Retirement Board] management with information that will assist them in ensuring compliance, transparency, and fiscal accountability under the CARES Act. The scope of this review is the RRB's actions and implementation through August 2020 for the purchase and deployment of mobile phones funded by CARES Act appropriation and controls over CARES Act benefit payments."
United States. Railroad Retirement Board. Office of Inspector General
2020-09-28
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Opportunities Exist to Improve HUD's Responses to Inquiries from Borrowers, Industry Partners, and the General Public Regarding Forbearance and Foreclosure Relief Provided by the CARES Act
From the Introduction: "As part of the Office of Inspector General's (OIG) effort to provide oversight of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) relief efforts provided by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), we reviewed HUD's responses to inquiries regarding forbearance and foreclosure relief. The objective of our review was to evaluate the accuracy of HUD's responses to inquiries from borrowers, industry partners, and the general public regarding forbearance and foreclosure relief provided by the CARES Act. We found that HUD could improve its customer service to borrowers, industry partners, and the general public by providing more direct, accurate, and complete responses to their inquiries."
United States. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Office of Inspector General
2020-09-22
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'CARES Act Flash Report': The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement's Safety Inspection Program COVID-19 Response
From the Document: "The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement's (BSEE's) mission is to promote safety, protect the environment, and conserve resources offshore through vigorous regulatory oversight and enforcement. BSEE's Safety Inspection Program assists in implementing BSEE's mission by performing safety and environmental inspections of offshore oil and gas production operations. BSEE's Inspectors typically travel via helicopter to inspect operations and equipment on offshore oil and gas production platforms, drilling rigs, and other facilities. Annually, BSEE conducts more than 20,000 inspections at over 2,300 facilities. Given the importance of inspections to public safety and environmental protection, we reviewed the actions BSEE's three regions--the Gulf of Mexico Region (GOMR), Pacific Region, and Alaska Region--have taken to protect its inspectors and offshore employees from COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] and evaluated any impacts the virus had on inspections BSEE conducted since March 2020."
United States. Department of the Interior. Office of Inspector General
2020-09-21
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EMR-ISAC: InfoGram, Volume 21 Issue 21, May 27, 2021
The Emergency Management and Response Information Sharing and Analysis Center's (EMR-ISAC) InfoGram is a weekly publication of information concerning the protection of critical infrastructures relevant to members of the Emergency Services Sector. This issue includes the following articles: "Minimizing smoke exposure and protecting the wildland firefighting workforce during the 2021 wildfire season"; "FEMA releases COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] Pandemic Operational Guidance: All-Hazards Incident Response and Recovery, webinars in June"; "Microchip shortages impacting auto industry lead to shortages in ambulance production, supply chain disruptions"; "NIST [National Institute for Standards and Technology] Public Safety Communications Research (PSCR) 2021 free virtual event, June 21-24"; and "Cyber Threats."
Emergency Management and Response-Information Sharing and Analysis Center (U.S.)
2021-05-27
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Department of Defense COVID-19 Response to Defense Industrial Base Challenges, Committee on Armed Services, House of Representatives, One Hundred Sixteenth Congress, Second Session, June 10, 2020
This is the June 10, 2020 hearing on "Department of Defense COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] Response to Defense Industrial Base Challenges," held before the House of Representatives Committee on Armed Services. From the opening statement of Adam Smith: "The subject of today's hearing is to discuss the Department's response to the pandemic, and specifically, the efforts-and as the Under Secretary for Acquisition, you are in the middle of this-the efforts to ramp up production necessary to meet that aspect of the public health challenge. And very early on, it was obvious that, when we were going to have such a massive increase in public health demands surrounding COVID-19, one of the things that was going to be required was to mass produce far greater quantities of certain key public health needs than we would normally have. [...] I am still worried about whether or not we are using the full force and power of the Federal Government to meet this crisis, particularly when it comes to producing PPE [personal protective equipment], and to make sure that we bring the competence to the problem that is necessary." Statements, letters, and materials submitted for the record include those of the following: Ellen M. Lord.
United States. Government Publishing Office
2021
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Performance Audit of the Implementation of OMB COVID-19 Flexibilities - University of New Mexico
From the Audit Objective: "The National Science Foundation [NSF] Office of Inspector General engaged Cotton & Company LLP [limited liability partnership] (C&C) to conduct a performance audit of the implementation of Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) flexibilities at the University of New Mexico (UNM) for the period March 1 to September 30, 2020. The auditors tested approximately $187,000 of the more than $15.6 million of costs claimed to NSF. The audit objective was to determine if UNM used the administrative COVID-19 flexibilities authorized by OMB and, if so, whether UNM complied with the associated guidelines. See Appendix E for the audit's objective, scope, and methodology."
National Science Foundation (U.S.). Office of Inspector General
2021-05-13
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MMWR Early Release: Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, May 21, 2021: Mask Use and Ventilation Improvements to Reduce COVID-19 Incidence in Elementary Schools -- Georgia, November 16-December 11, 2020
The Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) Series is prepared by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). [It] is the agency's primary vehicle for scientific publication of timely, reliable, authoritative, accurate, objective, and useful public health information and recommendations. This early release issue of MMWR contains the following article: "Mask Use and Ventilation Improvements to Reduce COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] Incidence in Elementary Schools -- Georgia, November 16-December 11, 2020." Notifiable Diseases and Mortality Tables from MMWR can be accessed at the following link [http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/index2021.html].
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (U.S.)
2021-05-21
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Distributed Amplification: The Plandemic Documentary
From the Webpage Overview: "'Plandemic,' a 26-minute trailer video about coronavirus conspiracy theories, went viral in May 2020 because of 'distributed amplification' [hyperlink]. In response to its high viewership, major social media platforms moderated 'Plandemic' and prepared for the full-length video. The platforms' efforts slowed the spread of 'Indoctornation,' the anticipated 75-minute movie. 'Indoctornation' failed to achieve the virality 'Plandemic' had."
Media Manipulation Casebook
Nilsen, Jennifer
2020-10-20
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China's Healthcare System: Addressing Capacity Shortfalls Before and After COVID-19
From the Introduction: "The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) views the delivery of high-quality healthcare as an important aspect of its own political legitimacy. While China's government has made significant improvements to healthcare in the past decade, the healthcare system has not kept pace with many of the changing needs of China's population. As life expectancy has increased in China, so too has the burden of chronic diseases and the need for long-term and hospice care--problems the healthcare system remains underequipped to address. These problems are compounded by persistent budget shortfalls in many of China's healthcare institutions that contribute to a widespread corruption problem. Aware of the potential for these challenges to undermine political stability in China, Chinese policymakers have prioritized reform of the healthcare system. This report reviews challenges in China's domestic healthcare system and examines the efforts of China's policymakers to address these challenges. It also examines Chinese policymakers' attempts to promote TCM [traditional Chinese medicine] both domestically and internationally. The report draws on the Commission's May 2020 hearing on 'China's Evolving Healthcare Ecosystem: Challenges and Opportunities' and open source research. It expands on topics explored in Chapter 2, Section 3 of the Commission's 2020 Annual Report, 'U.S.-China Links in Healthcare and Biotechnology.'"
U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission
Nelson, Leyton P.
2021-03-31
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#DeplatformIcke: How Big Tech Powers and Profits from David Icke's Lies and Hate, and Why it Must Stop
From the Introduction: "For many people, David Icke is a joke, whose public life ended when he declared himself the 'son of God' live on the BBC thirty years ago. In truth that interview was the start of a new and profitable career as a professional conspiracy theorist, in which Icke has spent decades promoting bigotry and misinformation. Icke's popularity was turbocharged by social media, where he has an audience of two million followers. His website is one of the 1,000 most popular in the UK. Recent polling by Hope Not Hate revealed that more than half of the UK population have heard of Icke. The COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] pandemic, however, has clarified the threat David Icke poses to public safety. His conspiracy theories about COVID-19 have been viewed over 30 million times on social media, making him the leading producer of misinformation on the disease. [...] The only way to rein in Icke's hate and misinformation is to deplatform him now, before inaction on his lies and hate end up costing lives."
Center for Countering Digital Hate
2020
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COVID-19: Make it the Last Pandemic
From the Introduction: "The world is still in the midst of a pandemic that has spread wider and faster than any in human history. The social and economic crisis precipitated by COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] is affecting families, communities and nations across the globe. [...] The Panel has examined the state of pandemic preparedness prior to COVID-19, the circumstances of the identification of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2 [severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2]) and the disease it causes, coronavirus disease (COVID-19), and responses globally, regionally and nationally, particularly in the pandemic's early months. It has also analysed the wide-ranging impact of the pandemic and the ongoing social and economic crisis that it has precipitated. This report presents the Panel's findings on what happened, the lessons to be learned from that, and our recommendations for strategic action now to end this pandemic and to ensure that any future infectious disease outbreak does not become a catastrophic pandemic."
Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response
2021-05
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Social Costs of the COVID-19 Pandemic
From the Introduction: "The Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response commissioned a background paper to guide discussions and inform recommendations on the wider impacts of the Covid-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] pandemic. [...] The paper is in three main sections: 1) Context and background data; 2) Analysis of the consequences of the pandemic on selected social dimensions; and 3) Building back through integrated and resilient systems. The analysis highlights regional differences and specific country or regional examples to illustrate the issues in the social dimensions discussed in this paper. The social dimensions of Covid-19 impacts that this background paper covers are: income losses and poverty levels; the labour market; education and gender dimensions. For many people across age groups, backgrounds and geographies the pandemic has compounded other dimensions of vulnerability, making the challenges of navigating the pandemic more acute. These overlapping vulnerabilities are highlighted throughout the paper."
Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response; Overseas Development Institute (London, England)
Pereznieto, Paola; Oehler, Ilse
2021-05
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From Science to Policy: Provision of Technical and Strategic Guidance Based on Evidence by WHO
From the Document: "This paper includes an overview and analysis of the role of WHO [World Health Organization] in evidence curation and conveying during the COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] pandemic and an assessment of the adequacy and timeliness of mechanisms used. It is based on a comprehensive document and literature review, experts' consultations and a roundtable discussion on 'From Science to Policy' held by The Independent Panel on January 14, 2021. In addition, in-depth analysis on temporary recommendations, with a focus on travel-related measures and on community face masks have been included."
Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response
2021-05?
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Impact on Essential Health Services
From the Introduction: "The COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] pandemic has led to disruptions in essential health services in countries around the world with discontinuation occurring on both the demand and supply side. Factors include cancelation of elective and preventive procedures, personnel and supply shortages, and reductions in care-seeking driven by fear of contagion and pandemic-related movement restrictions. This paper reviews the impact of COVID-19 on essential health services and health systems, including on human resources for health, and recommends strategies for improving continuity of care during health emergencies."
Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response
2021-05
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Building on the Past
From the Summary: "All of the previous panels and commissions included in this analysis have identified similar gaps and challenges in the outbreak / pandemic preparedness, alert and response system, both on the international and national level. Their recommendations can be categorized in four key areas: WHO [World Health Organization], International Health Regulations (IHR), Global Health Security and Global Health Governance. The reports of most of the panels concluded that 'WHO needs to strengthen its role as the leading and coordinating organization' in the field of health, focusing both on its normative work, but also by building up unified, effective operational capacity for health emergencies. [...] Improving government transparency and accountability, empowering citizens and strengthening civil society as well as addressing and taking into account the gender dimensions within outbreak preparedness and response efforts, are 'additional key recommendations' made by various of the panels included in this short analysis. [...] COVID19 [coronavirus disease 2019] should be the final reason for the global community to strengthen the global and national pandemic preparedness and response systems, to increase resources for their implementation and for establishing well-functioning monitoring, evaluating and accountability mechanisms."
Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response
2021-05
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Centering Communities in Pandemic Preparedness and Response
From the Introduction: "Communities are defined by a common set of social relationships that formulate a shared identity amongst members of a community. There is no specific checklist for what defines a community, and communities may or may not be identified by shared geographic space such as a village or an urban neighborhood, in contrast to an ethnic group that may not have a specific geographic boundary. [...] The term community engagement is often used to describe the 'process of developing relationships that enable people of a community and organizations to work together to address health-related issues and promote well-being to achieve positive health impact and outcomes'. There is ample evidence that community engagement is vital for containing disease outbreaks as the recent Ebola outbreak showcased. Inadequate community engagement in designing, planning, and implementing interventions can lead to fear, mistrust, and lack of compliance to public health measures by communities. This paper reviews existing evidence on community engagement in the context of disease outbreaks, examples of community engagement during the COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] pandemic, successes and challenges of these efforts, and the lessons learned to strengthen community resilience during future outbreaks."
Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response
2021-05
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Social and Economic Impact of COVID-19
From the Introduction: "'This paper presents a succinct summary of the existing economic literature on the economic and fiscal impact of the pandemic, and a preliminary estimate of the associated economic cost.' It documents the incidence of initial conditions (with a particular focus on the role of the labour market channel) on the transmission of the shock and the speed and extent of the expected recovery, summarizes how countries attempted to attenuate the economic consequences and the international financial institutions assisted countries, reports preliminary accounts of medium-term COVID [coronavirus disease]-related losses, and concludes with some forward-looking considerations based on the lessons learned in 2020."
Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response
Levy Yeyati, Eduardo; Filippini, Federico
2021-05
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Scaling-Up Vaccine Production Capacity: Legal Challenges and Recommendations
From the Introduction: "This briefing paper aims to contribute to the evidence-based assessment of the Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness & Response, in particular in its work to ensure equitable access to vaccines and increased manufacturing capacity. 'The world has a normal capacity of production of 3.5 billion doses of vaccines and we now seek to manufacture 10 billion doses,' 'said Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala' [hyperlink], the new World Trade Organization Director General, on her first day in office. This represents an unprecedented and urgent need for scale-up, which is especially true given that most recommended vaccines require two doses, and that it is not clear how long immunity lasts. It may well be that the ramp up in vaccine production is not a one-off, but rather a new annual need. The threat posed by a pandemic outbreak has long been appreciated; pandemic preparedness plans have been discussed and, to some extent, put into practice. One concrete step was the foundation of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) in 2017. CEPI has provided a 'running start' in responding to the Covid-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] pandemic, in particular with its rapid funding support for Covid-19 vaccine development. Another development specific for Covid-19 has been the creation of COVAX, an initiative that supports the development and manufacture, procurement and equitable distribution of Covid-19 vaccines. Further, the research and development of Covid-19 vaccines has been largely de-risked by 'vast amounts of public financing from governments' [hyperlink]. But it is already clear that these initiatives, however valuable, will not be enough to ensure global vaccine production scale up."
Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response
Hoen, Ellen F. M. 't; Garrison, Christopher; Boulet, Pascale . . .
2021-05
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Access to Essential Supplies
From the Document: "During the initial stages of the pandemic, the world experienced a serious shortage of essential supplies. The situation was referred to by WHO [World Health Organization] Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus as 'one of the most urgent threats to our collective ability to save lives'. This global supply shortage was caused by factors such as lack of access provisions; poor stockpiling; overdependence on a few supplier countries; hoarding, panic buying and protectionism; travel cargo capacity restrictions; and a lack of immediate funding for procurement by LMICs [low- and middle-income countries]. The dynamics and key drivers of supply shortages varied by type of essential supply. The WHO and other institutions established the UN COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] Supply Chain System (CSCS) in response to the shortage. Survey results showed it provided ~50% of PPE [personal protective equipment], diagnostics, and biomedical supplies procured by LMICs. Even so it left an enormous gap in supply, as the system was only operationalized in May 2020 - months into the pandemic. Other major channels such as the World Bank did not sufficiently address the huge gap due to operational delays. This led to some positive changes as well- e.g., building of regional procurement capacity (e.g., in Africa) and manufacturing capacity for PPE in India. [...] This paper reviews how essential supplies such as personal protective equipment (PPE), test kits, and oxygen equipment were produced, allocated and delivered during the COVID-19 pandemic. It proposes ways in which the supply system can be managed differently to ensure equitable and effective access to these essential supplies."
Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response
2021-05
