What question did this study set out to answer?

To evaluate the immediate and lasting impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the utilization and provision of 31 essential health services across countries of varying income levels.

March 14, 2022Nature MedicineOpen Access

COVID-19 and resilience of healthcare systems in ten countries

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Authors

CACatherine ArsenaultMilken Institute AGAnna GageUniversity of Washington MKMin Kyung KimSeoul National University Bundang Hospital

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Implication

Interrupted time-series study reveals widespread disruptions in essential health services across diverse economies during COVID-19, highlighting key shortfalls in healthcare system resilience.

Key Points

To evaluate the immediate and lasting impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the utilization and provision of 31 essential health services across countries of varying income levels.
Conducted an interrupted time series analysis across 10 countries: two low-income (Ethiopia, Haiti), six middle-income (Ghana, Lao PDR, Mexico, Nepal, South Africa, Thailand), and two high-income (Chile, South Korea).
Tracked service volume trajectories across 31 health areas—including cancer screening, tuberculosis detection, HIV testing, outpatient visits, maternal care, and childhood immunizations—through the end of 2020 and into 2021.
Health service disruptions occurred across all 10 countries regardless of national income level or pandemic severity, often preceding peak COVID-19 infection waves.
The sharpest drops occurred in cancer screening, TB screening/detection, and HIV testing (26% to 96% declines), while total outpatient visits fell by 9% to 40% and maternal care dropped by 5% to 33% in roughly half the countries.
Provision of antiretroviral therapy remained stable without disruption, but substantial declines persisted in half of the studied nations through the end of 2020.

Cite This Study

Arsenault et al. (2022) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/69d89af3a5ecc596b5d17cf4 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-022-01750-1

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Implication

Interrupted time-series study reveals widespread disruptions in essential health services across diverse economies during COVID-19, highlighting key shortfalls in healthcare system resilience.

COVID-19 and resilience of healthcare systems in ten countries

Discussion

Member takes

Implication

Key Points

Cite This Study

COVID-19 and resilience of healthcare systems in ten countries

Discussion

Member takes

Implication

Key Points

Cite This Study

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