COVID-19 challenges: The Gambia situation and probable solutions
1 Department of Nursing and Reproductive Health, School of Medicine and Allied Health Sciences, University of the Gambia, Banjul Campus, The Gambia, PO Box 1646, Banjul.
2 Department of Public and Environmental Health, School of Medicine and Allied Health Sciences, University of the Gambia, Brikama Campus, The Gambia, PO Box 3530, Serrekunda.
3 Edward Francis Small Teaching Hospital, Independence Drive, Banjul, The Gambia.
Review Article
World Journal of Advanced Research and Reviews, 2020, 07(03), 070-076
Article DOI: 10.30574/wjarr.2020.7.3.0329
Publication history:
Received on 26 August 2020; revised on 06 September 2020; accepted on 09 September 2020
Abstract:
Unlike past pandemics, the coronavirus has peculiarly surged worldwide with many countries adopting preventive measures suggested by the World Health Organization (WHO). However, levels of observance of these measures come with challenges that vary across countries, depending on the sociocultural environment. The Gambia, one of the smallest country in West Africa with a low-income economy experienced great challenges in the face of this pandemic in all sectors, especially in the healthcare systems, socio-cultural factors, education, trade and tourism sectors. Some of these challenges are difficulty to enforce social/physical distancing measures and lack of funds to adequately and properly institute quarantine. Strict enforcement of the state of emergency regulations and the continuous sensitization of individuals to be responsible for their health and wellness is one way of mitigating the spread of the virus. Additionally, seeking professional support, training, occupational health and safety, postponement of the payment of loans and interest, provision of tax breaks for tourism establishments and supporting public-private partnership in the establishment of a Gambian registered airline, are ways to minimize the impact of this and any future pandemic.
Keywords:
COVID-19 pandemic; Healthcare; Education; The Gambia; Social/physical distancing; Socio-cultural environment.
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Copyright information:
Copyright © 2020 Author(s) retain the copyright of this article. This article is published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Liscense 4.0