Dataset Information

Application of Safety Protocols for International Cleft Outreach Programs During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Global Smile Foundation Precaution Guidelines and Implications.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Since COVID-19 was declared a worldwide pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) in March of 2020, foundation-based cleft outreach programs to Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs) were halted considering global public health challenges, scarcity of capacity and resources, and travel restrictions. This led to an increase in the backlog of untreated patients with cleft lip and/or palate, with new challenges to providing comprehensive care in those regions. Resumption of international outreach programs requires an updated course of action to incorporate necessary safety measures in the face of the ongoing pandemic. In this manuscript, the authors outline safety protocols, guidelines, and recommendations implemented in Global Smile Foundation's (GSF) most recent outreach trip to Beirut, Lebanon.

Methods

COVID-19 safety protocols for outreach cleft care and an Action Response Plan were developed by the GSF team based on the published literature and recommendations from leading international organizations.

Results

GSF conducted a 1-week surgical outreach program in Beirut, Lebanon, performing 13 primary cleft lip repairs, 7 cleft palate repairs, and 1 alveolar bone grafting procedure. Safety protocols were implemented at all stages of the outreach program, including patient preselection and education, hospital admission and screening, intraoperative care, and postoperative monitoring and follow-up.

Conclusions

Organizing outreach programs in the setting of infectious diseases outbreaks should prioritize the safety and welfare of patients and team members within the program's local community. The COVID-19 protocols and guidelines described may represent a reproducible framework for planning future similar outreach initiatives in high-risk conditions.

SUBMITTER: Al Abyad OS

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9902902 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Application of Safety Protocols for International Cleft Outreach Programs During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Global Smile Foundation Precaution Guidelines and Implications.

Al Abyad Omar S OS Annan Beyhan B Melhem Antonio A Chahine Elsa M EM Ramly Elie P EP Vyas Raj M RM Hamdan Usama S US

The Cleft palate-craniofacial journal : official publication of the American Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Association 20211217 3

<h4>Background</h4>Since COVID-19 was declared a worldwide pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) in March of 2020, foundation-based cleft outreach programs to Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs) were halted considering global public health challenges, scarcity of capacity and resources, and travel restrictions. This led to an increase in the backlog of untreated patients with cleft lip and/or palate, with new challenges to providing comprehensive care in those regions. Resumption ...[more]

PMID: 34919450

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Project description:BackgroundGlobal health implementing organizations benefit most from health impact estimation models that isolate the individual effects of distributed products and services - a feature not typically found in intervention impact models, but which allow comparisons across interventions and intervention settings. Population Services International (PSI), a social marketing organization, has developed a set of impact models covering seven health program areas, which translate product/service distribution data into impact estimates. Each model's primary output is the number of disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) averted by an intervention within a specific country and population context. This paper aims to describe the structure and inputs for two types of DALYs averted models, considering the benefits and limitations of this methodology.MethodsPSI employs two modeling approaches for estimating health impact: a macro approach for most interventions and a micro approach for HIV, tuberculosis (TB), and behavior change communication (BCC) interventions. Within each intervention country context, the macro approach determines the coverage that one product/service unit provides a population in person-years, whereas the micro approach estimates an individual's risk of infection with and without the product/service unit. The models use these estimations to generate per unit DALYs averted coefficients for each intervention. When multiplied by program output data, these coefficients predict the total number of DALYs averted by an intervention in a country.ResultsModel outputs are presented by country for two examples: Water Chlorination DALYs Averted Model, a macro model, and the HIV Condom DALYs Averted Model for heterosexual transmission, a micro model. Health impact estimates measured in DALYs averted for PSI interventions on a global level are also presented.ConclusionsThe DALYs averted models offer implementing organizations practical measurement solutions for understanding an intervention's contribution to improving health. These models calculate health impact estimates that reflect the scale and diversity of program operations and intervention settings, and that enable comparisons across health areas and countries. Challenges remain in accounting for intervention synergies, attributing impact to a single organization, and sourcing and updating model inputs. Nevertheless, these models demonstrate how DALYs averted can be viably used by the global health community as a metric for predicting intervention impact using standard program output data.

Dataset Information

Application of Safety Protocols for International Cleft Outreach Programs During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Global Smile Foundation Precaution Guidelines and Implications.

Background

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Publications

Application of Safety Protocols for International Cleft Outreach Programs During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Global Smile Foundation Precaution Guidelines and Implications.

Similar Datasets

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