Public health data challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic: a sisyphean task!
Abstract
In December 2019, a cluster of pneumonia cases was reported in Wuhan, China. Eventually it was identified, and the genetic sequence was thereafter disseminated, confirming a novel coronavirus infecting humans. Within just a few weeks, its rapid spread took on pandemic proportions, affecting people’s lives and daily routines. As of May 2022, the COVID-19 pandemic is still raging on, posing challenges worldwide. From its beginning, this pandemic has brought unexpected changes to health care systems and new challenges for public health, health monitoring, and health surveillance, namely in terms of the necessary data for clinical decisions, resource management, and policymaking. Moreover, health care systems had to maintain their non-COVID-19 activity while simultaneously the unrelenting impact of this new disease. The scientific world, too, was taken by a hurricane, and witnessed an impressive number of COVID-19-related publications in record time. As of the end of April 2022, PubMed, one of the most well-known databases containing biomedical cientific literature, retrieved more than 255,000 citations with “COVID-19” as the search term. Of those, 72,587 records also included a reference to “data,” revealing a large body of literature that likely involved the use of data to study COVID-19. Projects like the Population Health Information Research Infrastructure are, we believe, currently conducting literature reviews to better understand the uses, the pathways, and the needs of population health data in these pandemic times. It will take years, or even decades, to understand exactly what happened and what lessons we must assimilate to prepare for similar health crises and take with us into our new day-to-day.
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TYPE Edi o ial
PUBLISHED 13 Oc obe 2022
DOI 10.3389/ pubh.2022.1010055
OPEN ACCESS
EDITED AND REVIEWED BY
An hony Guihu ,
Uni e si é de Lausanne, Swi ze land
*CORRESPONDENCE
Ca la Sofia Fa inha
ca lasofi[email p o ec ed]
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CITATION
Fa inha CS, Noguei a PJ,
Fe ei a-San os R and Cos a AS (2022)
Edi o ial: Public Heal h Da a
Challenges o he COVID-19
Pandemic: A Sisyphean ask!
F on . Public Heal h 10:1010055.
doi: 10.3389/ pubh.2022.1010055
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Edi o ial: Public Heal h Da a
Challenges o he COVID-19
pandemic: A Sisyphean ask!
Ca la Sofia Fa inha1,2*, Paulo Jo ge Noguei a3,4,5,
Rod igo Fe ei a-San os3,5 and And eia Sil a Cos a3,4,5
1S a is ics Po ugal, P esidência dop Conselho de Minis os, Lisboa, Po ugal, 2Cen e o
En i onmen al and Sus ainabili y Resea ch (CENSE), NOVA School o Science and Technology (FCT),
NOVA Uni e si y o Lisbon, Lisbon, Po ugal, 3Ins i u o de Saúde Ambien al (ISAMB), Faculdade de
Medicina, Uni e sidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Po ugal, 4Nu sing Resea ch, Inno a ion and
De elopmen Cen e o Lisbon (CIDNUR), Nu sing School o Lisbon, Lisbon, Po ugal, 5Labo a ó io
Associado TERRA, Faculdade de Medicina, Uni e sidade de Lisboa, Lisboa, Po ugal
KEYWORDS
public heal h da a, poli ical decisions, COVID-19, heal h policy, heal h planning
Edi o ial on he Resea ch Topic
Public Heal h Da a Challenges o he COVID-19 pandemic: A
Sisyphean ask!
In Decembe 2019, a clus e o pneumonia cases was epo ed in Wuhan, China.
E en ually i was iden i ied, and he gene ic sequence was he ea e dissemina ed,
con i ming a no el co ona i us in ec ing humans. Wi hin jus a ew weeks, i s apid
sp ead ook on pandemic p opo ions, a ec ing people’s li es and daily ou ines. As o
May 2022, he COVID-19 pandemic is s ill aging on, posing challenges wo ldwide.
F om i s beginning, his pandemic has b ough unexpec ed changes o heal h ca e
sys ems and new challenges o public heal h, heal h moni o ing, and heal h su eillance,
namely in e ms o he necessa y da a o clinical decisions, esou ce managemen , and
policymaking. Mo eo e , heal h ca e sys ems had o main ain hei non-COVID-19
ac i i y while simul aneously he un elen ing impac o his new disease.
The scien i ic wo ld, oo, was aken by a hu icane, and wi nessed an imp essi e
numbe o COVID-19- ela ed publica ions in eco d ime. As o he end o Ap il
2022, PubMed, one o he mos well-known da abases con aining biomedical scien i ic
li e a u e, e ie ed mo e han 255,000 ci a ions wi h “COVID-19” as he sea ch e m.
O hose, 72,587 eco ds also included a e e ence o “da a,” e ealing a la ge body o
li e a u e ha likely in ol ed he use o da a o s udy COVID-19.
P ojec s like he Popula ion Heal h In o ma ion Resea ch In as uc u e (1) a e,
we belie e, cu en ly conduc ing li e a u e e iews o be e unde s and he uses, he
pa hways, and he needs o popula ion heal h da a in hese pandemic imes. I will ake
yea s, o e en decades, o unde s and exac ly wha happened and wha lessons we mus
assimila e o p epa e o simila heal h c ises and ake wi h us in o ou new day- o-day.
The p ima y aim o ou Resea ch Topic Public Heal h Da a Challenges o
he COVID-19 Pandemic was o ocus on public heal h da a in he con ex s o
wo ying da a de ici s, eme gen p oblems, and inno a i e solu ions o igina ing
om he COVID-19 pandemic c isis. Ne e heless, i was he seconda y aim—a
F on ie s in Public Heal h 01 on ie sin.o g
Fa inha e al. 10.3389/ pubh.2022.1010055
ocus on he solu ions and knowledge b ough by he
pandemic— ha ecei ed he mos con ibu ions. Cu iously,
mos a icles p esen ed c ea i e ways o acqui ing da a, hus
ailing o le us know mo e abou he issues we we e add essing.
The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed gaps ha need o
be add essed o socie y o e u n o a new no mal ha is
be e han be o e. The e o e, coo dina ed e o s among heal h
ca e p o ide s and public heal h o icials a di e en le els
a e necessa y— o example, o ca ch up on accina ion in
he Uni ed S a es (2). The apid de elopmen o COVID-19
accines has demons a ed ha , wi h ex ensi e da a sha ing,
i is possible o esea che s who ha e he necessa y esou ces
and no el echnologies o conduc and apply hei esea ch
h oughou he esponse o he COVID-19 pandemic (3). This
wo ldwide esponse has shown he impo ance o igilance and
p epa edness o any in ec ious disease.
Policy app oaches can be a highly e ec i e ool o
p e en ing exposu e o o he communicable disease ou b eaks
and p o ec ing he heal h o he public. Resea che s and public
heal h leade s can examine he bidi ec ional e ec s o laws
and policies, which a e impo an le e s o imp o e heal h and
wellbeing. I is also c ucial o measu e and moni o he e ec
o laws and policies on he heal h s a us o popula ions. In his
ega d, policy in e en ions and assessmen s should examine he
deg ee o which such in e en ions achie e equi y, con ibu e
o he e ec i eness o heal h p omo ion p og ams, and shape
he beha io s o a ious sec o s ha in luence popula ion heal h
(2,4).
We also ended up wi h in e es ing new pe spec i es on
he e ec s o COVID-19 on hospi al ac i i y, pa icula ly he
need o balance usual ca e wi h add essing he needs o he
pandemic. As an example, Kalanj e al. discuss he conside able
educ ion in hospi al admission a es o non-COVID-19 heal h
conce ns, including se ices ela ed o ca dio ascula and
malignan diseases.
Many case s udies in his Resea ch Topic ocused on
s a egies employed by he scien i ic communi y o sha ing
hei expe iences and challenges in dealing wi h he ongoing
pandemic si ua ion, as well as s a egies o p o iding policy
ecommenda ions and ad ice o go e nmen s on he impac o
he disease. Addi ionally, once he COVID-19 accine became
a ailable, we ecei ed li e a u e desc ibing he challenges
o accina ion managemen and inequi able dis ibu ion in
many di e en coun ies. The a icles we e ela ed o policies
and s a egies conce ning public heal h, heal h policy, and
heal h planning, wi h a ocus on local, egional, and na ional
app oaches. The a icles also applied a ange o di e en
empi ical and concep ual app oaches o he opics hey co e ed.
They explo ed opics such as heal h policy on suppo ing he
i s -dose accina ion campaigns ha p io i ized adminis a ion
in he elde ly (Pon elli e al.) and e en he e ec s o a
delay in accine acquisi ion ha slowed down a na ional
accina ion p og am wi h he po en ial o accele a e he
sp ead o he i us and lead o a new lockdown (Kam an
and Ali).
Public heal h s a egies such as con ainmen and mi iga ion
we e emphasized in se e al a icles. These a icles also
s essed he impo ance o e alua ing publica ions and
using me a-analyses o ecommenda ions, e en du ing a
pandemic (Boudesseul e al.); modeled he e ec s o public
heal h measu es du ing he COVID-19 pandemic (Qiu
e al.); discussed he e ec s o epidemic p e en ion and
con ol (Chen e al.); and suppo ed wi h da a he e ec s
o some speci ic measu es such as school closu es (Chao
e al.).
Se e al e iew a icles also ocused on he impo ance
o equi y. Fo ins ance, Ruiz-Ho nillos e al. examined
he equi y gua an ees and anspa ency in decision-
making p ocesses, and Ha ing e al. explo ed he
concep o us in cu en and u u e equi able
ela ionship-building be ween communi ies and
public-p i a e in e es s.
Al hough he pandemic was a new and challenging
heal h p oblem, he inc ease in scien i ic publica ions du ing
his pe iod is likely ela ed o he ac ha mo e han
a ew jou nals as - acked COVID-19 esea ch (5). E en
so, COVID-19 b ough o ligh he need o mo e obus
public heal h da a: one o he op h ee medical subjec s
in hese publica ions was public heal h (6). None heless,
e idence is s ill lacking on he e iciency o heal hca e sys ems
ega ding hei e o s o add ess he indi ec impac s o
he pandemic and main ain hei egula le el o se ices,
including hei esponsi eness o he demand o bo h
c i ical medical se ices and non-elec i e p ocedu es (Kalanj
e al.).
Mo e esea ch is needed o es ablish public heal h policy da a
de o ed o an eme gency du ing a pandemic, and also o suppo
ale sys ems ha may con ibu e o inc eased p epa edness o
u u e pandemics.
The challenge emains o ein o ce he need o mo e
analysis and explo a ion o he si ua ions whe e public heal h
da a is no a ailable o in o ming poli ical decisions; whe e
in o ma ion sys ems un in o e hical ba ie s; and whe e new
and inno a i e solu ions had o be c ea ed o o e come he da a
needs imposed by he unexpec ed challenges o COVID-19 ha
occu ed a local, egional, na ional, and in e na ional le els.
Bu , mos impo an ly, we canno keep pe pe ually
ein en ing he wheel in e ms o he use o da a o esea ch, o
popula ion heal h, o public heal h, o o heal h moni o ing
and su eillance. We need o s a alking openly abou
da a. We mus be able o build on each o he ’s e o s,
o sha e and imp o e da a. We a e no doomed o s a
anew o e e y single s udy o challenge— esea ch is no a
Sisyphean ask!
F on ie s in Public Heal h 02 on ie sin.o g
Fa inha e al. 10.3389/ pubh.2022.1010055
Au ho con ibu ions
CF, PN, RF-S, and AC ha e wo ked on he concep ualiza ion,
me hodology, and w i ing. All au ho s con ibu ed o he a icle
and app o ed he submi ed e sion.
Conflic o in e es
The au ho s decla e ha he esea ch was conduc ed in
he absence o any comme cial o inancial ela ionships
ha could be cons ued as a po en ial con lic
o in e es .
Publishe ’s no e
All claims exp essed in his a icle a e solely hose o he
au ho s and do no necessa ily ep esen hose o hei a ilia ed
o ganiza ions, o hose o he publishe , he edi o s and he
e iewe s. Any p oduc ha may be e alua ed in his a icle, o
claim ha may be made by i s manu ac u e , is no gua an eed
o endo sed by he publishe .
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