Dataset Information

Incorporating migrants into National COVID-19 Vaccination Plans in Latin America: A comparative analysis of policies in seven countries.

ABSTRACT: Vaccination against COVID-19 is an essential public health tool for pandemic control. Inclusion of migrants in COVID-19 vaccination is not only ethically necessary from a right-to-health perspective but also technically indispensable for disease control. This study aimed to characterize the inclusion of international migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers in COVID-19 vaccination policies in Latin American countries that have the greatest recent increase in the reception of migrants. We conducted a content analysis of public policy documents issued between March 11, 2020, and June 30, 2022 by the Ministries of Health of seven countries: Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mexico and Peru. Documents were located through Ministries of Health web pages, references in scientific literature, and the Pan American Health Organization's Information Platform on Health and Migration in the Americas. A content analysis was performed of the documents that were located, along six dimensions: migrants' right to vaccination, temporality of vaccination, administrative discretion, policies to facilitate access, language or cultural considerations, and normative, ethical or technical justifications provided. Eighty-six public policy documents were reviewed. Their contents showed that none of the countries explicitly excluded migrants from vaccination, nor did they explicitly define restrictions on this population. One barrier that was detected was to require identity documents in order to be vaccinated or to receive a vaccination certificate, which could be difficult for migrants to obtain. Few countries defined actions to facilitate or promote the vaccination of migrants. The documents that mentioned justifications for vaccinating migrants presented reasons that were mainly based on the recognition of the right to health, the principle of non-discrimination and equity. The countries studied generally had inclusive policies but were limited in terms of dealing with potential barriers to access. The lack of mechanisms to guarantee the right to health is a limitation that countries in the region should address.

SUBMITTER: Bojorquez-Chapela I

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10694650 | biostudies-literature | 2024

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Incorporating migrants into National COVID-19 Vaccination Plans in Latin America: A comparative analysis of policies in seven countries.

Bojorquez-Chapela Ietza I Rojas-Botero Maylen Liseth ML Marín Diana Patricia DP Riveros María Alejandra MA Roa Aura Yanira AY Fernández-Niño Julián Alfredo JA

Journal of migration and health 20231117

Vaccination against COVID-19 is an essential public health tool for pandemic control. Inclusion of migrants in COVID-19 vaccination is not only ethically necessary from a right-to-health perspective but also technically indispensable for disease control. This study aimed to characterize the inclusion of international migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers in COVID-19 vaccination policies in Latin American countries that have the greatest recent increase in the reception of migrants. We conducted ...[more]

PMID: 38053942

Similar Datasets

Project description:BackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic exposed significant limitations in health systems worldwide and emphasized the need for updated National Health Policies, Strategies, and Plans (NHPSPs). This study aimed to evaluate the NHPSPs of Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) countries before and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, it explored each country's commitment to strengthening health systems to address health threats and analyzed the specific changes made.MethodsNHPSP documents from the WHO document repository and official governmental websites were systematically searched. Data were extracted using a standardized template. A coding framework was inductively developed to sort qualitative texts into categories, with frequencies calculated and weighting evaluated, followed by organizing underlying content into subthemes.ResultsOut of 154 documents initially identified, 36 met the screening criteria, covering 14 OECD and 3 BRICS countries. The most predominant theme was prevention (88.9% pre-pandemic, 99.4% post-pandemic), which was addressed as a primary theme in 26 included NHPSPs. After the COVID-19 pandemic, 6 out of 14 analyzed themes saw higher occurrences, among which infection prevention and control (22.2-50.0%) and resilience to health crisis (22.2-44.4%) increased most significantly. Themes mainstreamed in post-pandemic NHPSPs included prevention (94.4%), health research and technology (61.1%), and One Health (66.7%). Primary healthcare emerged as the most concerned subtheme under prevention. Notably, OECD countries displayed more increased occurrences of themes (13 out of 14) or increased emphasis on themes with similar occurrences before and after COVID-19, while BRICS countries only differed in infection control. Additionally, OECD and BRICS countries varied in their subthemes and specific actions under similar primary themes.ConclusionsCOVID-19 exposed vulnerabilities in many countries' health systems, highlighting the need to build resilient health infrastructures through the optimization of NHPSPs. However, only about half of the OECD and BRICS countries have implemented new NHPSPs since the pandemic. Our findings highlight the critical need for global health system reforms and offer actionable recommendations for other countries in formulating their NHPSPs.

Project description:BackgroundStudies have shown that more than 50% of the antibiotics used in hospitals are unnecessary or inappropriate and, that antimicrobial resistance may cost up to 20 billion USD in excess medical costs each year. On the other hand, Antimicrobial Stewardship Programs (ASP) significantly reduce inappropriate antimicrobial use, emergence of antimicrobial resistance, healthcare associated infections, and costs in hospital settings.ObjectiveTo evaluate the development of ASP and antibiotic savings in 7 Latin American hospitals using standardized quantitative indicators in all the participating health care institutions.MethodsAn interventional study was conducted, where pre- and post- evaluations were performed using a standardized score tool adapted from the Joint Commission International accreditation standards and, the Colombian Institute of Technical Standards and Certification. We evaluated ASP from 7 Latin American hospitals between 2019 and 2020. A pre-intervention evaluation was done in each hospital to quantify the degree of development of the ASP (ASP Development score). Based on these results, tailored on-site training was implemented in each hospital, followed by a post-intervention evaluation to quantify improvement of ASP-development indicators. In addition, monetary savings in antimicrobials derived from the ASP intervention were estimated.ResultsIn the pre-intervention evaluation, the average ASP development score for the 7 institutions was 65.8% (40-94.3%). The items with the lowest development score were those related to monitoring and communicating the ASP progress and success. For the post-intervention evaluation, 2 institutions couldn't participate due to the pressure imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. For the remaining 5/7 hospitals, the average ASP development score was 82.3% with an increase of 12.0% when compared to the pre-intervention measurement of the same institutions (average pre-intervention score 70.3% (48.2%-94.3%) The items with a significant increase were key performance indicators, AMS education and training of the prescribers. Three of the seven (3/7) hospitals reported antibiotic monetary savings associated to the ASP intervention.ConclusionsThe use of the tool described shown to be useful to evaluate specific areas of ASP-development that were lacking and tailor interventions for the participating hospitals, consequently, it helped improve ASP-development in the institutions that underwent pre- intervention and post-intervention analysis. In addition, the strategies showed monetary savings on antimicrobial costs when measured.

Dataset Information

Incorporating migrants into National COVID-19 Vaccination Plans in Latin America: A comparative analysis of policies in seven countries.

Publications

Incorporating migrants into National COVID-19 Vaccination Plans in Latin America: A comparative analysis of policies in seven countries.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets