Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) in the Middle East: A Call for a Unified Response

Frontiers in Public Health

article

Tania Sawaya¹  Tala Ballouz²  Hassan Zaraket³  Nesrine Rizk⁴ 

[1] Division of Biology and Medicine, Undergraduate Program in Biology, Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Brown University, United States;Department of Public Health, Epidemiology Biostatistics and Prevention Institute, University of Zurich;Department of Experimental Pathology, Center of Infectious Disease, Faculty of Medicine, American University of Beirut;Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, American University of Beirut Medical Center

关键词: COVID-19;    SARS-CoV-2;    Middle East;    Arab league;    pandemic preparedness and response;    coronavirus disease;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fpubh.2020.00209

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

The Middle East—traditionally considered to be composed of the Arab-speaking countries in theEastern Mediterranean region in addition to Iran—has continuously been considered a hotspotfor infectious diseases (1). In addition to cross-border travel, its countries attract millions ofinternational travelers each year for tourism, business, and pilgrimage. Furthermore, it remains anarea of political turmoil and economic instability. Middle Eastern nations vary greatly in resources,growth indices, and economic strengths (2). For that, budget gaps (3) and difficulty in securingessential resources could compromise the response to an infectious disease outbreak. Violentconflicts have weakened the health infrastructure of several countries in the region and displacedmillions of people. The densely populated refugee camps are particularly worrying. Poor hygienemeasures and fragmented access to healthcare (4) have rendered these populations more vulnerableto disease and left out of pandemic preparedness (5, 6). It is also worth noting that Middle Easternpopulations have high rates of diabetes (7) and cardiovascular problems (8) that have been found tobe risk factors for severe COVID-19 disease (9). For all of those reasons, the spread of COVID-19in the region is particularly alarming and invites serious dialogue, transparency, and cooperation.

【 授权许可】

CC BY