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. 2023 Oct;8(10):e013573.
doi: 10.1136/bmjgh-2023-013573.

The response to COVID-19 in Timor-Leste: lessons learnt

Joshua R Francis  1   2 , Rui Maria de Araujo  3 , Odete da Silva Viegas  3   4 , Sergio Lobo  3 , Danina Coelho  3 , Arvind Mathur  3   5 , Vinay Bothra  3   5 , Dongbao Yu  3   5 , Anthony D K Draper  2   6 , Jennifer Yan  2 , Nelson Martins  3   2
Affiliations

The response to COVID-19 in Timor-Leste: lessons learnt

Joshua R Francis et al. BMJ Glob Health. 2023 Oct.

Abstract

The response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Timor-Leste offers lessons that may be useful for incorporating into future responses to infectious disease outbreaks in similar resource-limited settings. In this paper, we identify nine key areas for learning from Timor-Leste's experience of the COVID-19 pandemic: (1) the importance of prior preparation for health emergencies, (2) the establishment of effective leadership and governance structures, (3) the protective impact of early border restrictions, (4) the rapid expansion of diagnostic laboratory capacity, (5) the impact of effective health communications in supporting the vaccine roll-out, (6) the opportunity to build capacity for clinical care, (7) the use of public health interventions that were found to have limited public health impact, (8) the broader effects of the pandemic and the public health response and (9) translation of lessons from COVID-19 to other public health priorities.

Keywords: COVID-19; Health education and promotion; Health policy; Health systems; Vaccines.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: None declared.

References

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