Document Type : Viewpoint
Authors
1 School of Public Health, Université libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium
2 Global Health Theme, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK
3 Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit, Kinshasa Country Office, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo
4 Department of Public Health, Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp, Belgium
5 CEPED, Institute for Research on Sustainable Development (IRD), IRD-Université de Paris, Paris, France
6 School of Medicine and Public Health, Faculty of Health and Medicine, University of Newcastle, Callaghan NSW, Australia
Keywords
Main Subjects
Introduction
Countries around the world have been hit by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2/coronavirus disease 2019 (SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19) pandemic, and have reacted to its spread in very different ways. Some countries (eg, Sweden) have implemented minimalist public health interventions, while others (eg, France, New Zealand) have imposed almost complete population lock-downs and/or other restrictions to freedom of movement and privacy.1 Such extreme interventions have complex impacts and come at a tremendous (mental) health and societal cost, disproportionately affecting the lowest socio-economic strata, and populations in low-and middle-income countries.2-5 However, the patterns of infection and mortality rates are extremely heterogeneous within and across individuals and countries.6,7... (Read more...)