Malaria Prevention Pushes Forward in Africa Despite Pandemic

Hospitals across the United States are trying, in systematic ways, to reduce the risk of infection and other preventable dangers that can leave patients in worse shape after their stay. Some of the approaches include limiting entrances and exits during surgeries and administering antibiotics in a timely manner.

The South African Centre for Infectious Disease Surveillance is piloting a program to use smartphone technology to report and respond to infectious disease outbreaks. The program trains community members to recognize signs of infectious diseases, such as vomiting and diarrhea, and report them through their smartphones. These reports are relayed to a team of specialists who track the location and frequency of these reports to determine if an outbreak of disease is occurring and respond accordingly.

To reach kids who must stay at home as a result of the coronavirus and may not have access to reliable internet, teachers in Tennessee's Shelby County schools are recording easily accessible TV lessons. Though teachers can no longer get the same level of feedback from students or adjust to their on-the-spot questions, the lessons are to some degree interactive and aim to reinforce lessons students learned before schools went remote.

To allow patients to still see their doctors during the coronavirus pandemic, insurance providers have eliminated some of the barriers for providers to be reimbursed for telehealth appointments. This change in policy has helped doctors in Maine grow their telehealth practices in ways that may outlast the pandemic.

Amid the pandemic, medical researchers and an abortion-rights advocacy group in the U.S. are working to make the abortion pill available via mail. Although there is ambiguity surrounding the rules and regulations of how the pill must be distributed to patients, some doctors have helped efforts by agreeing to register with F.D.A.-approved manufacturers and a handful of states are allowing the pill to be mailed after an in-person ultrasound has been conducted.

In an effort to help get accurate information to the communities who are being disproportionately impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, a program called Live Chair Health has started to train barbers "on chronic issues that disproportionately affect Black communities" and teach them "how to have conversations with their clients about the diseases." Aside from providing COVID-19 information, the initiative has helped patrons access primary care and address other medical issues such as high blood pressure.

To discourage the spread of misinformation about the Covid vaccine and decrease vaccine hesitancy in minority communities, religious leaders and other influential people in Britain have launched campaigns to dispel concerns. According to a survey about overall willingness to take the vaccine, the efforts – which include posters, sermons, a help line, and WhatsApp chats – have been working.

To help address burnout for child welfare workers in Knox County, Ohio, Knox County Job & Family Services has launched a two-pronged approach that aims to offer wellbeing services to employees. Although the Covid pandemic impeded the rollout of these self-care services and resources, feedback has been positive.

Community health workers with North Carolina Formerly Incarcerated Transition Program (NC FIT) counsel people recently released from jails and prisons to help them get the care they need for mental and physical health problems. The program closes some but not all of the gaps left by the state's inadequate Medicaid coverage and prison health services. Banking on the trust that comes with shared experiences, the formerly incarcerated health workers can connect people with medication-assisted treatment for substance use, covid-related treatments, and mental health care, all common ailments post-incarceration.

Teams of Community Direct Distributors (CDD) are leading drug distribution campaigns to prevent and eliminate neglected tropical diseases in hard-to-reach, rural areas. These CDDs are members of the community they serve and are trained to educate the locals on disease prevention and administer the drugs themselves. With the CDDs’ help, several states have already eliminated some diseases and greatly reduced the spread of others.