Question

How do international health care delivery systems work collaboratively to address global health concerns like COVID19, SARS and EBOLA?

Answer 1

Answer :

INTERNATIONAL HEALTH CARE AGENCY

DEFINITION : An organization that is administered by an autonomous board which hold meeting, collects funds for its support chiefly from private sources & expends money, whether with or without paid workers, in conducting a programme directed primarily to furthering the public health by providing health care measures.

Agencies which are working to  WHO, UNICEF, UNDP, International Red Cross, CARE, FORD FOUNDATION, ROCK FELLER FOUNDATION, COLOMBO PLAN. These all agencies help the world to prevent disease and promotions of health. Example : COVID-19, SARS , EBOLA, HIV/AIDS, Influenza, Cholera, Plague etc.

Health organizations provide international health aid for provilng long term health care to the developing countries.

** They provide aid to victims of war, famine and natural disasters. Research and pilot programs sponsored by agencies from Industrial developed nations.

** These organizations are a major source of expert technical advice and training for local health professionals which includes community-based screening, testing, contact-tracing, risk communication, community engagement, and case management.

** COVID-19 , SARS, E BOLA are pramount during this pandemic, providing additional measures of safety while resuming ophthalmic care for all patients.

** Vision health systems preparedness measures developed during recent EVD outbreaks.

** Service delivery systems are responsible for providing health services for patients, persons, families, communities and populations in general, and not only care for patients.

The primary objectives of any health delivery system are to enable all citizens to receive health care services whenever needed, and to deliver health services that are cost-effective and meet pre-established standards of quality.

Strategic approach – Quickly assess situations that potentially signal the start of efficient and sustained human-to-human transmission of the virus. Should assessment indicate that human-to-human transmission is occurring, Intervene immediately, using rapid-response field teams and global and regional stockpiles of antiviral drugs and other supplies. Develop an operational protocol, supported by standard operating procedures, to support this intervention. Develop a communications protocol to support this intervention, encourage compliance, and minimize the stress experienced by the affected population.The plan also sets out expected results as a focus for these actions. Implicit in meeting these goals are several capacities at national and international levels:

(1) to conduct surveillance for human cases in countries experiencing poultry outbreaks

(2) to detect imported cases

(3) to confirm diagnosis

(4) to undertake field investigations of cases and interpret the findings

(5) to identify populations at heightened risk of infection and introduce protective measures

(6) to detect the earliest epidemiological signals that the virus may be increasing its transmissibility among humans

(7) to intervene rapidly and adequately when this occurs

(8) to produce sufficient quantities, at sufficient speed, of vaccines and antiviral drugs as measures for mitigating morbidity and mortality during a pandemic, and make these interventions widely available. Proposed strategic actions aim to strengthen these and other capacities. Apart from preparing the world to cope with the present emergency situation, the strengthening of these capacities will improve the world’s ability collectively to defend itself against many other emerging and epidemic-prone diseases.

Agencies emphasis on :

** Medical Technology and Patient Safety

** Obligations and timeframes for urgent actions.

** Virus and specimen sharing

** Vigilance at the family and community level.

** Investigations of human-to-human transmission.

** Vigilance for imported cases

** Collaboration between the health and agricultural sectors

** Reduce human exposure to the diseases

** Strengthen the early warning system

** Intensify rapid containment operations

A defining characteristic of the modern health care delivery system is the ubiquitous use of medical technology. Broadly speaking, medical technology includes not only medical devices, drugs, and biologics, but also the medical and surgical procedures that they enable and the organizational and support systems within which they are used. Diagnosis, monitoring, treatment, and rehabilitation all rely on complex and sophisticated medical tec hnologies like Vaccines and Neuraminidase Inhibitors.