An article published on the online platform The Conversation, authored by LSTM’s Dr Tom Wingfield and Professor Miriam Taegtmeyer, looks at the impact of the COVID-19 on healthcare workers.
Writing as infectious disease doctors who have worked in both low- and high-income settings and who are currently working on specialist COVID -19 wards in Liverpool, the pair look at the physical risks undertaken by frontline healthcare workers, as well as the psychological impact and the social and economic impact that comes with the pandemic. They also talk of some of the benefits that have come from this unprecedented way working, listing some positive COVID experiences.
Ending on a note of solidarity with their colleagues around the world they talk of the importance of continued advocacy as the pandemic moves around the globe. They call for concerted collective action to avoid catastrophe in fragile and unprepared health systems in sub-Saharan Africa and South America should cases there increase as they have elsewhere. Insisting that COVID-19 should not be one country’s struggle alone, they call for the international effort to recognise healthcare workers as a vulnerable group that needs protection.
Healthcare workers and coronavirus: behind the stiff upper lip we are highly vulnerable
The Conversation. April 8, 2020 2.05pm BST