COVID-19 Pandemic: What Can the West Learn From the East?

doi:10.34172/ijhpm.2020.85

Review

. 2020 Oct 1;9(10):436-438.

doi: 10.34172/ijhpm.2020.85.

COVID-19 Pandemic: What Can the West Learn From the East?

Mostafa Shokoohi^{1

2}, Mehdi Osooli³, Saverio Stranges^{4

5

6}

Affiliations

¹ Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
² HIV/STI Surveillance Research Center, and WHO Collaborating Center for HIV Surveillance, Institute for Futures Studies in Health, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran.
³ Center for Primary Health Care Research, Lund University, Malmö, Sweden.
⁴ Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, Western University, London, ON, Canada.
⁵ Department of Family Medicine, Western University, London, ON, Canada.
⁶ Department of Population Health, Luxembourg Institute of Health, Strassen, Luxembourg.

PMID: 32610736
PMCID: PMC7719217
DOI: 10.34172/ijhpm.2020.85

Review

COVID-19 Pandemic: What Can the West Learn From the East?

Mostafa Shokoohi et al. Int J Health Policy Manag. 2020.

. 2020 Oct 1;9(10):436-438.

doi: 10.34172/ijhpm.2020.85.

Authors

Mostafa Shokoohi^{1

2}, Mehdi Osooli³, Saverio Stranges^{4

5

6}

Affiliations

¹ Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
² HIV/STI Surveillance Research Center, and WHO Collaborating Center for HIV Surveillance, Institute for Futures Studies in Health, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran.
³ Center for Primary Health Care Research, Lund University, Malmö, Sweden.
⁴ Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, Western University, London, ON, Canada.
⁵ Department of Family Medicine, Western University, London, ON, Canada.
⁶ Department of Population Health, Luxembourg Institute of Health, Strassen, Luxembourg.

PMID: 32610736
PMCID: PMC7719217
DOI: 10.34172/ijhpm.2020.85

Abstract

Differences in public health approaches to control the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic could largely explain substantial variations in epidemiological indicators (such as incidence and mortality) between the West and the East. COVID-19 revealed vulnerabilities of most western countries' healthcare systems in their response to the ongoing public health crisis. Hence, western countries can possibly learn from practices from several East Asian countries regarding infrastructures, epidemiological surveillance and control strategies to mitigate the public health impact of the pandemic. In this paper, we discuss that the lack of rapid and timely community-centered approaches, and most importantly weak public health infrastructures, might have resulted in a high number of infected cases and fatalities in many western countries.

Keywords: COVID-19; Emerging Infectious Diseases; Pandemic Preparedness; Public Health Responses.

© 2020 The Author(s); Published by Kerman University of Medical Sciences. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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References

1. World Health Organization (WHO). Coronavirus disease (COVID-2019) situation reports (Report 120; May 19, 2020). https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/situatio.... Accessed May 20, 2020.
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1. Normile D. Coronavirus cases have dropped sharply in South Korea What’s the secret to its success? Science. 2020 doi: 10.1126/science.abb7566. - DOI
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1. Dinh L, Dinh P, Nguyen PDM, Nguyen DHN, Hoang T. Vietnam’s response to COVID-19: prompt and proactive actions. J Travel Med. 2020;27(3) doi: 10.1093/jtm/taaa047. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

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[1] World Health Organization (WHO). Coronavirus disease (COVID-2019) situation reports (Report 120; May 19, 2020). https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/situatio.... Accessed May 20, 2020.

[2] World Health Organization (WHO). Coronavirus disease (COVID-2019) situation reports (Report 120; May 19, 2020). https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/situatio.... Accessed May 20, 2020.

[3] Global Preparedness Monitoring Board. A world at risk: annual report on global preparedness for health emergencies. Geneva: WHO; 2019.

[4] Global Preparedness Monitoring Board. A world at risk: annual report on global preparedness for health emergencies. Geneva: WHO; 2019.

[5] Normile D. Coronavirus cases have dropped sharply in South Korea What’s the secret to its success? Science. 2020 doi: 10.1126/science.abb7566. - DOI

[6] Normile D. Coronavirus cases have dropped sharply in South Korea What’s the secret to its success? Science. 2020 doi: 10.1126/science.abb7566. - DOI

[7] Park S, Choi GJ, Ko H. Information technology-based tracing strategy in response to COVID-19 in South Korea-privacy controversies. JAMA. 2020 doi: 10.1001/jama.2020.6602. - DOI - PubMed

[8] Park S, Choi GJ, Ko H. Information technology-based tracing strategy in response to COVID-19 in South Korea-privacy controversies. JAMA. 2020 doi: 10.1001/jama.2020.6602. - DOI - PubMed

[9] Dinh L, Dinh P, Nguyen PDM, Nguyen DHN, Hoang T. Vietnam’s response to COVID-19: prompt and proactive actions. J Travel Med. 2020;27(3) doi: 10.1093/jtm/taaa047. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

[10] Dinh L, Dinh P, Nguyen PDM, Nguyen DHN, Hoang T. Vietnam’s response to COVID-19: prompt and proactive actions. J Travel Med. 2020;27(3) doi: 10.1093/jtm/taaa047. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

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COVID-19 Pandemic: What Can the West Learn From the East?

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COVID-19 Pandemic: What Can the West Learn From the East?

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