The task force on ‘Public Health Measures to Suppress the Pandemic’ is part of The Lancet COVID-19 Commission and will analyse effective non-pharmaceutical interventions which have allowed some countries to successfully contain COVID-19. These interventions will be compared with those in other countries which have been less successful.
The findings will then be used by the group of experts from 12 countries to engage global governmental and non-governmental leaders in the promotion of best practices for the control of the pandemic, as well as the protection of basic social needs and the recovery of the global economy.
“I think what I can bring to the table is Sightsavers’ hands-on experience of health system strengthening and the huge network of community health workers in the countries where we work. They are an under-utilised resource and there is an understanding that critical answers to the pandemic lie in the community,” said Bush, who is one of two UK representatives on the Commission.
The new commission plans to release two peer-reviewed reports in February and September next year. They will outline its findings and also set out clear and consistent guidelines to help all countries with their public health responses to COVID-19.
Once it became clear that the water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) activities we use to combat NTDs could help stop the spread of COVID-19, we immediately got to work.
Our responseThe UK government’s new international women and girls strategy is a positive step. But because 18 per cent of women have a disability, it is essential that disability inclusion is prioritised.
Gertrude, who is Sightsavers’ global advocacy manager for social inclusion, becomes the first African woman to lead the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
Sightsavers is sad to learn of the death of disability rights activist Judith Heumann, who was often referred to as the ‘mother of the disability rights movement’.