Preparation and response of Health Systems against COVID-19 in Latin America and the Caribbean.

April 2020 - December 2020

    • Assessment of Health Technologies and Economic Evaluations, Projects of the Center for Implementation and Innovation in Health Policies
    • Concluded

Period: April 2020 – December 2020

Work team: Collaboration between the CIIPS and the Department of Health Technology Assessment and Economic Evaluations of the IECS.

Dr. Adolfo Rubinstein, Dr. Andrés Pichon-Riviere, Dr. Federico Augustovski, Lic. Martin Wachs, Dr. Alejandro Lopez Osornio, Dr. Analía López, Lic. Cintia Cejas, Lic. Maisa Havela, Dr. Ariel Bardach

Objective:

Estimate the impact of the expansion of COVID-19 on the level of preparedness of the health systems of different countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. 

Summary:

This proposal aimed to estimate the impact of the expansion of COVID-19 on the level of preparedness of the health systems of different countries in the region. The project included the compilation of key indicators of health system readiness based on scientific journals and publications, complemented by input from government and health officials, as well as experts from the fields of epidemiology, infectious diseases, intensive care and management. hospital, to evaluate the potential impact of COVID-19 on these key variables.

The epidemiological model developed for this project took into account key parameters of the health system at the national or subnational level, such as the number of beds in hospitals and intensive care units, respirators, multiparametric monitors, health personnel in hospitals and in ICU, occupancy rate, length of stay in ICU, etc. 

This health system preparation model allowed the compilation and estimation of the impact of the implementation of different public health policies (non-pharmacological interventions) on the dynamics of viral transmission and the use of critical resources in different countries. In addition, it allowed obtaining estimates of the expected daily number of COVID-19 cases and deaths for each given scenario and its relationship with other epidemiological variables and with the resources available to respond from health systems.

The model is available in https://www.iecs.org.ar/modelocovid/ 

Financing: Inter-American Development Bank (IDB)