Insights on Late-Stage COVID-19 Pandemic Recovery From a 21-Country Online Survey

Abstract

Objectives: The widespread impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on health systems, economies, and societies globally requires comprehensive data to guide effective recovery efforts. Online surveys have become crucial for rapid and extensive data collection. The Pandemic Response Survey (PRS), utilizing the Facebook Active User Base (FAUB), assessed the pandemic's population-level impacts across 21 countries, gathering information on healthcare, vaccine confidence, trust, and economic and educational indicators.

Methods: Conducted from March to May 2023, the PRS, translated into 15 languages, used the FAUB for gender-stratified random sampling of adults 18 years and older. The survey collected responses from 621,000 individuals, achieving a completion rate of 43%. Non-response and inverse propensity score weights were applied to calibrate the data to known demographic totals, enhancing the survey's generalizability.

Results: The PRS findings reveal disparities in life satisfaction, food security, delayed healthcare, vaccine confidence, and trust across countries. Life satisfaction was reported as high by 70%-80% of respondents in Egypt, Nigeria, Colombia, and Mexico, while only 20%-30% of respondents in Indonesia, Turkiye, and Viet Nam reported the same. Approximately 50% of respondents in Nigeria, South Africa, and Colombia experienced food insecurity, in contrast to less than 10% in Italy, Japan, and Germany. In Germany, 44% of respondents expressed high vaccine confidence compared to 10.6% in South Africa. Over half of respondents in Indonesia (52.4%) reported that their child was up to date on routine immunisations.

Conclusion: The PRS demonstrates the effectiveness of online surveys in capturing actionable data during a global health crisis. The findings underscore the importance of targeted interventions and policy decisions to address the multifaceted challenges of pandemic recovery. Collaborative efforts in data collection and knowledge sharing between nations with shared profiles may foster more effective strategies.

Keywords: COVID-19 pandemic; health care access; pandemic recovery; survey methodology; vaccine confidence.

FIGURE 1

Compares the proportion of survey respondents in the Pandemic Recovery Survey with population estimates from the Global Burden of Disease across 21 countries. Survey proportions are stratified by country, age, and gender. Data are from the Pandemic Recovery Survey, 2023 across 21 countries.

FIGURE 2

Presents a bar graph for six main indicators in the Pandemic Recovery Survey. Each graph shows the proportion of respondents from each country for each indicator including life satisfaction, trust in national government, vaccine confidence, food insecurity, delayed healthcare, and routine childhood vaccines. Data are from the Pandemic Recovery Survey, 2023 across 21 countries.

FIGURE 3

Displays the distribution of countries based on their scores on the first two principal components, illustrating the relationship between life satisfaction, vaccine confidence, food security, trust in national government, and COVID-19 vaccination status. The diagram identifies clusters of countries with similar health and governance profiles. Data are from the Pandemic Recovery Survey, 2023 across 21 countries.