Question

Q: 4   Design an educational program for changing the self-assessment apps use behaviour of students according to the prevention and control of COVID-19 based on the activated health education model? With at least 2 references , at least 4-5 line answer

Answer 1

Different areas, even within the same country, may require different approaches to designating essential services and to engaging the community health workforce in maintaining these services and responding directly to the COVID-19 pandemic. Decision-makers must balance the benefits of different activities with the risks they pose for transmission of the virus to health workers or from health workers to others. The local disease burden, the COVID-19 transmission pattern and the baseline capacity for service delivery at the community and facility levels will impact the risk−benefit analysis for any given activity, and communities’ distinct care-seeking patterns should also inform adaptations.
In settings where high-burden endemic diseases have signs and symptoms overlapping with the COVID-19 case definition (such as those of malaria), public health messaging will need to be adapted to ensure that people do not delay seeking care for potentially life-threatening illnesses. In addition, where, how and from whom communities seek health care may vary significantly by context. Private sector providers and NGOs, including faith-based organizations, are important stakeholders and key service providers in some communities. Rapid assessments at the national and subnational levels should guide strategic choices about policy and protocol changes and response action, taking into account that pre-exisiting gaps in health services delivery and system functions may be exacerbated during the outbreak. When they are well-informed and coordinated, adaptations made in the pandemic context have the potential to strengthen both facility-based primary care and its integration with the community-based platform into the early recovery period and beyond.

To meet ongoing population health needs and mitigate the negative impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak, nationally agreed primary care programmes need to ensure capacity for preventing morbidity and mortality through the community-based delivery of essential services ,including
• preventing communicable disease through delivery of vaccines, chemoprevention, vector control and treatment
• avoiding acute exacerbations and treatment failures by maintaining established treatment regimens for people living with chronic conditions;
• taking specific measures to protect vulnerable populations, including pregnant and lactating women, young children and older adults
• managing emergency conditions that require time-sensitive intervention and maintaining functioning referral systems.

Community-based prevention activities include outreach services (an extension of facility-based primary care services used to reach the underserved), campaigns (supplementary activities to routine services used to achieve high population coverage) and outbreak responses.While these activities are life-saving, they may also increase the risk of COVID-19 transmission within communities and between health workers and communities. The decision to continue, modify or postpone these activities should take into account the impact on COVID-19 transmission, the speed of disease resurgence and the consequences of withholding the intervention. For example

if insecticide-treated net (ITN) distribution campaigns are discontinued in areas where malaria is highly endemic, there will likely be a near-term increase in cases and deaths; the COVID-19 transmission risks associated with ITN distribution can be minimized by switching from group distribution to door-to-door delivery and then leaving ITNs at the door to a house. If ITNs are to be delivered at sites such as health facilities, large gatherings should be avoided, and all physical distancing measures should be applied. Activities that rely on large-scale gatherings, such as mass vaccination campaigns, will need to be suspended where COVID-19 transmission is established, although oral vaccines delivered in monodose vials, such as for cholera and polio, could be safely self-administered or administered by a caregiver during a home visit while a health worker monitors from 1 m away. However, outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases (VPDs) create immediate health needs and require a risk−benefit assessment on an event-by-event basis.
National and subnational processes for identifying essential services, coordinating with COVID-19 response planning and optimizing the health care workforce and service delivery should incorporate relevant community-based activities and include consultation with relevant community health workforce representatives.

Prevention at the personal level

Good respiratory hygiene/cough etiquette.

Good respiratory hygiene refers to measures aimed at containing respiratory secretions and reducing their spread in the environment or to other people. Traditionally, they include:

• Covering your mouth and nose with a tissue or with your elbow when coughing or sneezing; and safe disposal of the tissue once used.
• Use of a surgical or tissue face mask.
• Perform hand hygiene often, and always after contact with potentially contaminated objects/materials.

Good respiratory hygiene and cough etiquette are usually recommended for individuals with signs and symptoms of a respiratory infection. However, given the established risk of SARS-COV-2 infection from asymptomatic individuals, public health authorities all over the world have recommended these measures for everybody when in public places. This is not without controversy, in particular on the use of masks in the absence of symptoms.