ARTICLE IN PRESS JID: GLOHJ [m5GeSdc; March 2, 2021;23:19 ] Global Health Journal xxx (xxxx) xxx Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Global Health Journal journal homepage: https://www.keaipublishing.com/en/journals/global-health-journal/ REVIEW Lessons from the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic response in China, Italy, and the U.S.: a guide for Africa and low- and middle-income countries Isaac Iyinoluwa Olufadewa a , b , ∗ , Miracle Ayomikun Adesina a , b , Marlene Davis Ekpo b , c , Seyi John Akinloye b , d , Temiloluwa Ololade Iyanda b , c , Pamela Nwachukwu a , b , Lalit Dzifa Kodzo b , c a Faculty of Public Health, College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Oyo State 200212, Nigeria b Slum and Rural Health Initiative Research Academy, Ibadan, Oyo State 200212, Nigeria c Department of Public Health, School of Public Health, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510515, China d Department of Oral Pathology, Dental Clinic, University College Hospital, Ibadan, Oyo State 200212, Nigeria a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received 25 May 2020 Received in revised form 6 December 2020 Accepted 30 January 2021 Available online xxx Keywords: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) Africa Low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) Pandemic response China U.S. Italy a b s t r a c t Africa can be “left behind ” after other advanced continents recover from the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic as ref l ected by the global pandemic of HIV/AIDS. In this paper, we summarize potentially adaptable, ef f ective and innovative strategies from China, Italy, and the U.S. The purpose is to help African countries with weaker healthcare systems better respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. China, being the fi rst to report COVID-19 infection swiftly swung into anti-epidemic actions by the use of innovative risk communication and epidemic containment strategies. Italy and U.S., the next rapidly hit countries after China, however, experienced sustained infections and deaths due to delayed and inef f ective response. Many African countries responded poorly to the COVID-19 pandemic as evidenced by the limited capacity for public health surveillance, poor leadership, low education and socioeconomic status, among others. Experience from China, Italy and U.S. suggests that a bet- ter response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Africa needs a strong public health leadership, proactive strategies, innovative risk communication about the pandemic, massive tests and isolation, and scaling-up community en- gagement. Lastly, African countries must collaborate with other countries to facilitate real-time information and experience exchange with other countries to avoid being left behind. 1. Introduction The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) with no prediction has been a threat and challenge to global health. Striking the world at the time it did, led to so many unforeseen drawbacks arising from the need to divert funds, manpower and resources towards the battle against the virus. 1 January 30, 2020 remained remarkable as the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the COVID-19 epidemic a public health emergency of international concern. 2-3 As of December 5, 2020, over 66 million conf i rmed cases and over 1.5 million deaths have been recorded globally. 4 At a mortality rate estimated at 2% ?4%; seemingly higher than that for the inf l uenza pandemic, the disease was tagged very high risk by the WHO risk assessment report. 2 The outbreak of COVID-19 was in late December 2019 with symp- toms including fever, malaise, dry cough and shortness of breath. 5 Geriatrics and people in immunocompromised states or with underly- ∗ Corresponding author: isaac.olufadewa@srhin.org . ing health problems have been reported to be at greater risk of en- countering debilitating health consequences. The etiology was spec- ulated to be linked to a popular seafood market in Wuhan city of China. 5 The established transmission modes include respiratory droplets and person-to-person contact. Most researchers estimate that the incubation period ranged from 1 to 14 days, with an average of 5 days. 6 Follow- ing the outbreak, health care workers resorted to palliative care using existing drugs, 6 and several strict measures were conceptualized and implemented to detect, curb and control the spread of the disease. 7 These measures include heightened surveillance and rapid identif i ca- tion of suspected cases, followed by patient transfer and isolation, rapid diagnosis, tracing, and follow-up of potential contacts. Social distancing, use of masks and improvement in personal hygiene have also been em- phasized. 8-9 Those measures were adopted from existing guidelines es- tablished from experiences garnered during previous disease outbreaks https://doi.org/10.1016/j.glohj.2021.02.003 2414-6447/© 2021 People’s Medical Publishing House Co. Ltd. Publishing service by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of KeAi. This is an open access article under the CC BY license ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ ) Please cite this article as: I.I. Olufadewa, M.A. Adesina, M.D. Ekpo et al., Lessons from the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic response in China, Italy, and the US: A guide for Africa and low-and-middle-income countries, Global Health Journal, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.glohj.2021. 02.003
