Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Nov:2:100127.
doi: 10.1016/j.puhip.2021.100127. Epub 2021 Apr 23.

A critical narrative of Ecuador's preparedness and response to the COVID-19 pandemic

Juan José Alava  1   2 , Angel Guevara  3
Affiliations

A critical narrative of Ecuador's preparedness and response to the COVID-19 pandemic

Juan José Alava et al. Public Health Pract (Oxf). 2021 Nov.

Abstract

Ecuador's National Health System has been severely overwhelmed by the COVID-19 pandemic despite public health efforts. This was primarily due to limited health emergency planning responses. Ecuador's COVID-19 mortality rate was 8.5% in early June 2020. The capital city (Quito) and Pichincha province, Guayaquil city and Guayas province, as well as Manabi, Azuay, the El Oro and Tungurahua provinces were the most severely impacted locations by the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in thousands of positive cases. Using the World Health Organization (WHO) Operational Planning Guidelines to Support Country Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan for COVID-19 as a reference point, we highlight the urgent need to implement a proactive preparedness and response plan to address the COVID-19 pandemic, with the aim of improving Ecuador's public health system. The mitigation of COVID-19 transmission and hazard reduction is crucial in protecting the most vulnerable at-risk populations in this nation.

Keywords: COVID-19 pandemic; Community transmission; Ecuador; Mortality rate; Preparedness and response plan.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.None declared.

References

    1. World Health Organization . Rolling Updates on Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) WHO; Geneva, Switzerland: 2020. https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/events-a... Accessed 21 March 2020.
    1. Dong E., Du H., Gardner L. An interactive web-based dashboard to track COVID-19 in real time. Lancet Infect. Dis. 2020:1–2. doi: 10.1016/S1473-3099(20)30120-1. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Johns Hopkins University . Coronavirus COVID-19 Global Cases by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University (JHU). COVID-19 Map. Coronavirus Research Center; Baltimore, Maryland: 2020. https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html Accessed from 9 April 2020 to 7 January 2021.
    1. Ministerio de Salud Pública . Coronavirus Ecuador: Actualización de casos de coronavirus en Ecuador. Gobierno de la Republica de Ecuador; Quito, Ecuador: 2020. https://www.salud.gob.ec/actualizacion-de-casos-de-coronavirus-en-ecuador/ Accessed from 5 May 2020 to 15 March 2021.
    1. Faiola A., Herrero A.V. Bodies lie in the streets of Guayaquil, Ecuador, emerging epicenter of the coronavirus in Latin America. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/coronavirus-guayaquil-... The Washington Post (3 April 2020) Accessed 8 April 2020.

LinkOut - more resources