From Public Health Policy to Impact for COVID-19: A Multi-Country Case Study in Switzerland, Spain, Iran and Pakistan

Abstract

Objectives: With the application of a systems thinking lens, we aimed to assess the national COVID-19 response across health systems components in Switzerland, Spain, Iran, and Pakistan.Methods: We conducted four case studies on the policy response of national health systems to the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. Selected countries include different health system typologies. We collected data prospectively for the period of January–July 2020 on 17 measures of the COVID-19 response recommended by the WHO that encompassed all health systems domains (governance, financing, health workforce, information, medicine and technology and service delivery). We further monitored contextual factors influencing their adoption or deployment.Results: The policies enacted coincided with a decrease in the COVID-19 transmission. However, there was inadequate communication and a perception that the measures were adverse to the economy, weakening political support for their continuation and leading to a rapid resurgence in transmission.Conclusion: Social pressure, religious beliefs, governance structure and level of administrative decentralization or global economic sanctions played a major role in how countries’ health systems could respond to the pandemic.

Did COVID-19 Policies Have the Same Effect on COVID-19 Incidence Among Women and Men? Evidence From Spain and Switzerland

“…Exceptions to the norms of staying and working from home were issued in Switzerland as well as in Spain for workers in sectors considered "essential". Essential services included those ensuring supply of food and hygiene products, medicines, health care, transport or security [27,42]. Workers in these sectors are predominantly women in both countries [22,42,43].…”

“…Two of the authors (FBF and LM) searched publicly available reports such as official government documents/websites or press releases and press conferences of national-level policies and their implementation at the second administrative level (cantons in Switzerland, autonomous communities in Spain) to create a harmonised timeline of policies in each country. This was an extension of the Health Observatory detailed in a previous manuscript [ 27 ]. These data were then visualised to show the duration of policies (for home office recommendations and school closures) and the changes in testing policies.…”

A Novel EEG-Based Assessment of Distraction in Simulated Driving under Different Road and Traffic Conditions

“…In this regard, it has to be noted that the most recent report provided by the World Health Organization [ 1 ] listed distracted driving among the most relevant causes of road accidents. Furthermore, even though traffic accidents have been acknowledged as a public health issue for many years, improvements and counteractions to this concern at a global level appear to be not enough, particularly concerning low and middle-income countries, as indicated by Tavakkoli et al [ 2 ]. In this regard, scientific works such as the ones proposed by Oviedo-Trespalacios and Watson [ 3 ], Oviedo-Trespalacios et al [ 4 ], and Oviedo-Trespalacios et al [ 5 ] have provided empirical evidence highlighting the escalating threat to individuals’ health and road safety posed by distracted driving.…”