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With the prospect of a new US Presidential administration, it’s time to identify innovations in the US and overseas that can help fight COVID and improve public health. Our latest update of Protecting Global Gains is a reminder that low-income countries have the experience, wisdom and inclination toward innovation that can save lives in wealthier nations.
In the latest edition in our series, learn how the state of Massachusetts is working with Partners in Health (PIH) to apply lessons from PIH’s epidemic responses in places like Haiti, Rwanda and Sierra Leone to offer care and support to people in quarantine.
America’s profit-driven health system has long prioritized medical and clinical services, even though community-led and -based solutions are drivers of health. With guidance from PIH, Massachusetts has invested in a corps of caregivers who follow up with individuals isolating or in quarantine after COVID-19 contact tracing. Non-medical support such as food, medicine, cleaning supplies, rental assistance and legal advice is helping people remain at home, boosting the reach and impact of contact tracing.
Katie Bollbach, director of PIH’s newly created US Public Health Accompaniment Unit, describes the effort as “an inflection point to reconsider and reimagine the health systems we need for the future.”
This is just one example of community-centered public health that is making a difference. Learn about other interventions that are succeeding in protecting public health in the midst of COVID-19 from our series, Protecting Global Gains, a initiative we are implementing in partnership with Amref Health Africa and Friends of the Global Fight Against AIDS, TB and Malaria.
Follow us on social media at @hivpxresearch, @theglobalfight and @Amref_Worldwide and #protectglobalgains, and consider amplifying these stories on your own social media. Visit www.protectingglobalgains.org to learn how to take action and to share your stories of innovation in the time of COVID.