Assessment of the Functional Capacity and Preparedness of the Haitian Healthcare System to Fight against the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Narrative Review

Abstract

Low-income countries, such as Haiti, are facing challenges in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic due to resource shortages and fragile healthcare systems. This study assessed the functional capacity and preparedness of the Haitian healthcare system regarding the COVID-19 pandemic. It employed a narrative review approach to analyze secondary data and used the Donabedian model and the global health security index as the theoretical frameworks to evaluate preparedness. The findings reveal that Haiti faces challenges in tackling the COVID-19 pandemic due to a lack of biosafety and biosecurity regulations, inadequate laboratory systems for COVID-19 testing, and shortages of human resources and personal protective equipment. Moreover, poverty remains widespread, and people lack access to clean water and sanitation services, resulting in a high risk of COVID-19 infection. Furthermore, a lack of communication, rumors, the circulation of fake news regarding COVID-19, and stigmatization cause distrust and reduce the number of people seeking healthcare services. Haiti faces challenges with respect to tackling the pandemic. The Haitian government can strengthen and improve the capacity of the healthcare system to fight against the COVID-19 pandemic and infectious diseases emerging in the future.

The role of international support programmes in global health security capacity building: A scoping review

“…Whilst preparedness investments are arguably cost-effective [ 9 , 44 , 54 ], resourcing IHR capacity strengthening remains challenging for most countries [ 13 ]. Inadequate and unsustainable finance, human resources, or other resources are frequently cited barriers to public health emergency responses and sustainable IHR capacity building [ 13 , 30 , 32 , 38 , 45 , 55 – 57 ]; resource shortages and financial under-investment have again been highlighted through the COVID-19 pandemic [ 15 , 58 ]. Increased predictable and sustainable national and international financing for IHR implementation is urgently required [ 14 ]–specifically including financial investment in public health infrastructure and IHR core capacity development [ 6 , 13 , 31 , 53 , 59 ].…”