COVID-19 Preventative Measures: Lessons for Public Health Policy ()
ABSTRACT
The coronavirus disease
2019 (COVID-19) has led to an unprecedented global public health crisis.
COVID-19 was declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern on January 30, 2020 and a pandemic on March 11, 2020
by the World Health Organisation (WHO). Following the COVID-19 outbreak, WHO
and other public health organisations
developed preventive guidelines against the disease. Using desktop research,
this paper looks at current COVID-19 preventive measures and highlights some
lessons for mandatory public health policy measures. The paper begins by giving
a brief account on the background to
coronavirus disease 2019, its modes of transmission, as well as current
preventive measures against the disease. The paper concludes by recommending
mandatory public health policy measures that need to be adopted to prevent,
control and manage current and future
similar outbreaks. In particular, considering the current COVID-19 preventative
measures, the paper advances some recommendations on priority areas that could
be adopted, maintained and sustained at policy level to provide direction on prevention
and control of transmissible diseases. The priority areas recommended include but not
limited to, risk assessment, community
education, social and physical distancing strategic interventions, disinfection
measures as well as the provision of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).
Share and Cite:
Balisi, S. and Madisa, M. (2021) COVID-19 Preventative Measures: Lessons for Public Health Policy.
Open Journal of Social Sciences,
9, 1-14. doi:
10.4236/jss.2021.97001.