Global responses to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID19) pandemic are converging with pervasive, existing sexual and reproductive health and justice inequities to disproportionately impact the health, wellbeing, and economic stability of women, girls, and vulnerable populations. People whose human rights are least protected are likely to experience unique difficulties from COVID19. 1 Women, girls, and marginalised Centring sexual and reproductive health and justice in the global COVID-19 response unmonitored isolation, from the effects of COVID19, as well as loneliness and mental health deterioration. The risks of using CHWs in this way could be reduced by supervision, with independent monitoring and evaluative research to identify problems early and correct them. The CHWs could visit in pairs to reduce the risks.People might resist or be reluctant to be visited by CHWs, and they could opt out of home visits at any time, but experience with CHWs in Brazil in the past 30 years suggests this would happen rarely. 4 In Brazil, 250 000 CHWs provide a much needed and relied upon service. CHWs in Brazil have been established for many years, are well integrated into their communities, and provide a wide range of health and social care support activities to each of the 100-150 households that they are responsible for. Therefore, in Brazil, additional roles for preventing the spread of and supporting those infected with COVID19 or in selfisolation could be integrated into the work of CHWs. Much can be learned from countries with successful experiences of radical, largescale workforce interventions. 9 It could be argued that this is an unrealistic proposal and that adapting the existing system or training so many people is too challenging. However, current health and social care systems in the UK are under extreme pressure and could become overwhelmed. In a time of fear, isolation, and growing health inequalities, 10 use of CHWs for the COVID19 response would boost social coherence and fill gaps that have begun to emerge between health and social care and inperson and virtual access to health care. Our proposal for CHWs would produce a large cadre of people with an understanding of basic epidemiological and public health concepts 11 who could challenge scientific misinformation and explain the rationale for specific health policies and interventions to the public. This approach would also help build a new generation of leaders who can help tackle the complex challenges of our age.
Background The COVID-19 pandemic and global efforts to contain its spread, such as stay-at-home orders and transportation shutdowns, have created new barriers to accessing healthcare, resulting in changes in service delivery and utilization globally. The purpose of this study is to provide an overview of the literature published thus far on the indirect health effects of COVID-19 and to explore the data sources and methodologies being used to assess indirect health effects. Methods A scoping review of peer-reviewed literature using three search engines was performed. Results One hundred and seventy studies were included in the final analysis. Nearly half (46.5%) of included studies focused on cardiovascular health outcomes. The main methodologies used were observational analytic and surveys. Data was drawn from individual health facilities, multicentre networks, regional registries, and national health information systems. Most studies were conducted in high-income countries with only 35.4% of studies representing low- and middle-income countries. Conclusion Healthcare utilization for non-COVID-19 conditions has decreased almost universally, across both high- and lower-income countries. The pandemic’s impact on non-COVID-19 health outcomes, particularly for chronic diseases, may take years to fully manifest and should be a topic of ongoing study. Future research should be tied to system improvement and the promotion of health equity, with researchers identifying potentially actionable findings for national, regional, and local health leadership. Public health professionals must also seek to address the disparity in published data from LMICs as compared to high-income countries.
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