Assessment of the Iraqi Health Staff Response to COVID-19 Outbreak: Basra an Example
Keywords:
COVID-19, Epidemic, health-crises managementAbstract
Background: Assessment is a vital step in management, which aims at improving planning andimplementation of processes, activities, campaigns, and programs. This was the motive behind
conducting this study to evaluate the health system response in Basra Province, south of Iraq.
Method: This evaluative study included the selection of evaluation sites to obtain the relevant
background information about the resources involved, policy and legislation documents, and the
existing structure and process of COVID-19 crisis-management. The sample targeted included
medical and stakeholder non-medical staff.
Results: A gap was determined in following-up the principles of scientific handling of epidemics
including documentation, the absence of specialized staff in health-crises management was
documented, shortage in planning and preparing protocols and guidelines for epidemic
management was found.
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