120 essential health interventions to protect during the pandemic

FULL ARTICLE:
Protecting essential health services in low-income and middle-income countries and humanitarian settings while responding to the COVID-19 pandemic
[published online, 8 October 2020]

POLICY BRIEF:
See also BCEPS Policy Brief (October 2020) for a condensed summary of the paper.

BCEPS UiB researchers Kjell Arne Johansson, Øystein Haaland, Ingrid Miljeteig, Ole Frithjof Norheim, Solomon Memirie, Alemayehu Hailu, Peter Hangoma, and affiliated researchers Stéphane Verguet (Harvard), David Watkins (University of Washington), and Dean Jamison (University of California San Francisco), together with a team of international colleagues, have contributed to a BMJ Global Health paper that presents a list of 120 essential health interventions to continue during the COVID-19 pandemic in humanitarian crises and LMICs.

In health outcomes terms, the poorest countries stand to lose the most from pandemic-related disruptions, and this paper makes a case for prioritising public sector health spending and decision-making both during the pandemic and in the early recovery phase. Based on ethics and equity principles, it is crucial to ensure that patients not infected by COVID-19 continue to get access to healthcare and that the services they need continue to be resourced.

The list of 120 essential non-COVID-19 health interventions was adapted from the model health benefit packages developed by the Disease Control Priorities project, and the interventions are presented by level of health system or 'platform of delivery'.

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BCEPS Policy Brief