Impact of COVID-19 on global smile foundation surgical outreach programs
2021
Background/Purpose: Health care systems worldwide have suffered tremendous consequences due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), that already had unmet surgical needs prior to the pandemic, have been especially affected. Although surgical outreach programs provide temporary increases in workforce and resources in LMICs, these programs were severely impacted by the pandemic due to precipitous travel bans, flight changes, and cancellations of unprecedented magnitude. Global Smile Foundation (GSF) volunteers have provided interdisciplinary cleft care through surgical outreach programs for over 3 decades, with the success of these programs heavily relying on volunteers and their continued willingness to provide global care. GSF has had to promptly acclimate to surging challenges. Moreover, little has been discussed regarding the impact of the pandemic on LMICs. This study is the first to assess how the pandemic might affect surgical outreach programs providing care in LMICs. Methods/Description: ERB approval was obtained to collect data from study subjects. Inclusion criteria comprised of individuals who have participated in at least one global surgical outreach program with GSF and had a current email address in the organization's database. The total number of study subjects was 403. There were no exclusion criteria. The data were collected in the form of a 6-question survey that gathered responses in the form of multiple-choice, checkbox, and free-text answers. Results: The survey received 223 responses, corresponding to a 55% response rate. Although most volunteers (64%) plan on joining future GSF outreach programs, 31% remain unsure of their future commitment. Volunteers' main concerns to join future outreach programs were worries of COVID-19 infection (85%) and mandatory quarantine in their home-country post-trip (69%) and in the host country (60%). A lot of uncertainty remains regarding safety to resume outreach programs. Many volunteers would not consider traveling until a vaccine is available (30%). Additionally, 70% of respondents report current travel restrictions implemented by their institution, with 78% of these respondents disclosing that no time frame has yet been determined to resume traveling. Conclusions: This study shows that, while the COVID-19 pandemic does not completely dissuade GSF volunteers from their commitment to providing cleft care in LMICs, a lot of uncertainty remains regarding upcoming surgical outreach programs. One would therefore worry that the existing burden of disease highlighted by the 2015 Lancet Commission on Global Surgery will only increase.
Keywords:
- Correction
- Source
- Cite
- Save
- Machine Reading By IdeaReader
0
References
0
Citations
NaN
KQI