2020 marked an extraordinary year in global public health – the emergence of the ongoing COVID-19 health crisis has brought into focus the importance of strong, resilient health systems and, for ICAP teams around the world, the increased urgency of our mission to transform the health of populations through innovation, research, and global collaboration.
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a dramatic loss of human life worldwide and presents an unprecedented challenge to public health, while the economic and social disruption caused by the pandemic has been devastating as well. From the onset, ICAP quickly moved to assist national ministries of health in developing and implementing response plans, while at the same time working on the ground to help health workers and health facilities prepare to address a new and often deadly disease—helping to set up laboratories and isolation units, conducting surveys to assess the infection’s spread, procuring personal protective equipment (PPE), training frontline workers on infection prevention and COVID-19 diagnosis and management, and participating in vaccine development. While working nonstop to support COVID-19 response efforts in 30-plus countries of operation, ICAP also worked with partners across national, subregional, and local levels to reorganize and safely maintain access to high-quality, essential health services in the pandemic context.
Geo-spatial presentation of data captured at an earlier stage of the country’s COVID testing campaigns.
Tracking the COVID-19 Pandemic in Real-Time
In close collaboration with ministries of health from Angola to Zimbabwe, ICAP field teams worked to support the establishment of national command centers and data dashboards and introduced innovative virtual approaches to maintaining strong health care systems in the face of the dramatic challenges presented by the pandemic. ICAP worked to help bolster the capacity of ministries of health to monitor, evaluate, and track the spread of COVID-19 and address hot spots where transmission rates are high. Systematically collecting, interpreting, disseminating, and using data—through surveys or surveillance—can play a key role in understanding where progress has been made and where gaps remain.
To guide rapid COVID-19 response, ICAP supported the expansion and strengthening of surveillance systems in seven countries as well as five COVID-19 related surveys. One notable example of this work includes the development of a customized a COVID-19 data analytic and visualization platform for the ministry of health in Lesotho. In just under 72 hours, ICAP staff built a suite of data collection, monitoring systems, and training materials to support Lesotho’s national COVID-19 response, allowing public health officials to view outbreak patterns in real time. The COVID tracking system pulled together patient intake forms and geo-spatial data for all border posts, villages, and health facilities into easy-to-read data summary dashboards, similar in feel and function to information systems previously developed. In Zimbabwe, ICAP supported and strengthened contact tracing and COVID-19 surveillance activities by incorporating an electronic health record system in all the country’s main travel entry points to alert health care workers of possible COVID-19 infections in the community.
Handwashing station at the Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital (JOOTRH) in Kisumu, Kenya.
Supporting Infection Prevention and Control Measures at Partner Facilities Around the World Through Trainings and Direct Implementation
ICAP worked in close partnership with ministries of health to protect health workers and their patients through both trainings of frontline responders and directly supporting the implementation of infection prevention and control (IPC) measures in partner facilities. In a matter of weeks after the onset of the pandemic, ICAP launched health worker training programs in 16 countries to provide frontline health workers with critical training in COVID-19 case identification and management, triage care, IPC measures, and improved patient communication strategies. Furthermore, ICAP experts in critical COVID-19 IPC measures directly guided clinic teams in the implementation of integrated safety precautions and protocols at health facilities including the establishment of mobile handwashing stations, the creation of well-ventilated waiting areas with adequate space to social distance, institutionalizing correct and consistent donning and doffing of health worker PPE, and the distribution of easy-to-understand communications materials with important health information for patients. In Sierra Leone, COVID-19 triage stations and a newly renovated COVID-19 screening center were rapidly assembled at the King Harman Hospital in Sierra Leone with support from ICAP. At Western Kenya’s largest referral hospital and longtime partner Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital (JOOTRH), ICAP developed and supervised the implementation of COVID-19 infection, prevention, and control (IPC) protocols, including the institutionalized use of hand-washing stations and symptom screening checkpoints.
Procuring Protective Equipment for Health Facilities
As rates of infection escalated around the world in early 2020, frontline health workers were particularly vulnerable to infection due in part to an over reliance of just-in-time inventory management systems –designed to cut costs by eliminating stocks of critical supplies on-site. In response to surging cases, the market for PPE faced both a dramatic production shortfall, with PPE production output in China severely restricted due to COVID-19-related closures, and spikes in demand for PPE. In short, PPE was least available and accessible when frontline health workers needed them the most.
In Tajikistan, ICAP purchased respirators, medical masks, disposable gloves, protective suits, and hand wash basins for the country’s national HIV/AIDS and narcology center.
Health facility workers in Kenya receive critical supplies — including non-contact thermometers, cleaning supplies, and other PPE — to protect clinic workers as they care for patients through the fund.
Frontline health workers pose in front of patient-facing posters used to describe the basic symptoms of COVID-19 and promote mitigation measures at the East Kazakhstan
