To Overcome the COVID-19 Pandemic, Communities need 3Cs and Accurate Information

The coronavirus COVID-19 understandably strikes fear, anxiety and panic. I recommend and promote the antonyms Courage, Calmness and Control (rightfully called 3Cs, mimicking the 3Is in TB management- Intensified case-finding (ICF), Isoniazid Prevention Therapy (IPT) and Infection Control, IC). Interestingly, the same principles that we have used for TB Control for decades are the keys to controlling this new pandemic-

1. We need to intensify identification of new (and existing asymptomatic) cases,
2. We have to develop a deep culture and practice of strict and frequent hand washing and hygiene (at individual and community levels) to prevent infections and transmission/ spread
3. To prevent and control community spread of COVID-19, people need easily accessible but accurate, expert and timely information on the disease, what to do, what not to do to protect themselves and their loved ones and what to do if they get infected.

Anyone can get infected with COVID-19, if exposed to the virus. While the severity of the disease depends on a number of factors (such as age, underlying chronic diseases and lowered immunity), everyone can prevent it. According to the WHO Director-General, this is the first pandemic that can be controlled. Notably, in many pandemics, fear, anxiety, panic, misinformation and ignorance are behaviours and attitudes that significantly contribute to the spread of diseases. And, if I may say, more than the actual pathogenesis of the diseases themselves. Once communities can be encouraged to adopt the 3Cs, it is easy to inform, educate and communicate about the disease. Community access to accurate information will not only curb stigma and harmful practices/ use of false remedies, it promotes a sense of oneness of purpose and an understanding of how to jointly curb the spread of the disease. An informed people are a powerful people, but nations perish for lack of knowledge!

As part of my goal of spreading accurate information during this COVID-19 pandemic, I'd like to share the following resources that have been made available to me.

This WHO website provides you with regular updates, general travel advice, training, what you need to do to stay safe/ protect yourself and global news updates

Updates from the World Health Organization (WHO)

This situation dashboard/ interactive map from WHO shows you the current situation globally, providing you with information on the number of confirmed cases, deaths, total number of territories affected globally and a very informative descriptive graph (on the lower left side of your screen) of timelines for recorded infections. I find this map very informative and intuitive because it shows the stage at which each country is in its epidemic, with some 'cooling off' (hopefully), others just reaching the expected peak of infections and others (mostly in Africa) just at the start of the curve.

WHO Situation Dashboard

The CDC website for the COVID-19 pandemic is very rich in resources for individuals, families, communities, schools, businesses and faith-based organizations. This excellent resource from CDC proves that we can only overcome this pandemic if we adopt, from the onset, a hands-on approach that involves all stakeholders, communities and parties.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention COVID-19