The first COVID-19 case was confirmed in Azerbaijan in February 2020. In April 2020 there were only 6 COVID-19 designated hospitals in the country, all of which were lacking special protocols to deal with the pandemic. There was an urgent need to adapt to the new reality, to improve their readiness to admit COVID-19 patients.
WHO Country Office in Azerbaijan (WCO) took immediate action and in March 2020 called a response mission of international WHO experts for technical assistance to coordinate with the Ministry of Health (MOH) and the Administration of the Regional Medical Divisions (TABIB) in Azerbaijan to develop a 3–6 months national preparedness and response plan for COVID-19. An Operational Headquarters under the Cabinet of Ministers was created (on 27 February 2020) in Azerbaijan to coordinate efforts. WHO team of experts provided guidance on a full range of measures including: surveillance and laboratory testing, risk communication, infection prevention and control, patient care, access to essential medicines and minimization of the pandemic’s impact on the country’s health care system, including consideration of physical distancing measures. Together with MOH and TABIB, WHO assessed and identified topics for providing training for health professionals in areas like case management and intensive care of severe acute respiratory illness, infection and control, and triage.
In April 2020, WCO initiated The REACT-C19 project, an initiative to share expertise between doctors, to use innovative solutions and digital platforms, and to reshape the hospital response to COVID-19. The project was developed in partnership with the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, the Ministry of Health, the State Agency on Mandatory Health Insurance, and the Administration of the Regional Medical Divisions, with funding from the WHO COVID-19 fund reserves, the United States Agency for International Development and the British Embassy in Baku. Thus, highly qualified Azerbaijani doctors working in Turkey participated in a recruitment process and 19 of them were selected and received hands-on practical training In Izmir, Turkey, on infection prevention and control, triage, case management and intensive care of severe acute respiratory illness. The 19 physicians (specialists in infectious diseases, internal medicine, pulmonology, anesthesiology and reanimation) returned to Azerbaijan to help the hospitals in their home country to scale up essential hospital capacity and implement essential COVID-19 protocols. The team of doctors supported the hospital management of 12 COVID-19 response hospitals throughout the country, helped in the process of setting up triage systems, infection control committees, and trained healthcare workers in using essential WHO guidelines and tools concerning case management and intensive care. The doctors used the WHO Rapid Hospital Readiness Checklist, a tool that allows hospitals to see how well they are performing against a set of 11 components[1]. During the final phase of the project, WCO created a digital platform for healthcare workers, so they can have easy access to materials, interact with experts, access online meetings, statistics, and other supportive activities helpful in addressing COVID-19.
WCO started implementing the EU-funded Solidarity for Health Initiative[2], providing technical assistance to the government in procuring and delivering key equipment and medical devices, also supporting the national coordination of the COVID-19 response and risk communication to the population. Furthermore, WCO trained healthcare workers in areas like infection control and case management, to tackle COVID-19.
With the escalation of the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding regions on 27 September 2020, the health system was stretched even more significantly in Azerbaijan and the provision of essential health services was seriously impacted. WHO carried out a five-day Health Needs Assessment mission in five conflict-affected regions, in December 2020. The mission representatives identified mental health and psycho-social support needs as major gaps, while the COVID-19 pandemic was a major concern due to an exponential increase in the caseload during that period.
To respond adequately to the assessment’s findings, WHO developed an intervention strategy to address imminent essential primary health care services and mental health and psycho-social support for a period of six months. In this respect, medical mobile teams provide those services at fixed Primary Health Care centers in 25 different locations, in remote areas, where there is limited access to health care. The service ranges from antenatal care to the treatment of chronic illnesses. Furthermore, WHO strengthens mental health and psychosocial support service by training social workers and health workers in psychological first aid. Hospitals are supported with infection, prevention and control measures to reduce the facilities becoming COVID-19 transmission hubs.
Highlights
- WHO delivered laboratory testing kits and 2.5 million masks to healthcare institutions, other state agencies and NGOs working with vulnerable population groups (e.g. Social Services Agency, Medical Department of the Ministry of Justice, The Administration of
the
Regional Medical Divisions, Clean World Public Union and others);
- Risk Communication and community engagement have been essential parts of the COVID-19 response. WCO developed two communication campaigns for the general public regarding safety measures addressing COVID-19: the Safe Hands Campaign and the Staying home healthy campaign; the story book My hero: How kids can fight COVID-19 was translated, published and distributed to children living in the frontline areas of the conflict, in Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding regions.
[1]. E.g.: establishing an incident management system, setting up an operational body for COVID-19, and strengthening infection prevention and control, including by setting up triage systems.
[2]. The Solidarity for Health initiative (2020-2022) supports the Eastern partner countries - Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Republic of Moldova, and Ukraine - in their fight against the virus. The project is part of a common European response to the outbreak of COVID-19 and is implemented by WHO.
Photo caption: REACT-C19 doctors together with local doctors in the ‘red zone’ of a temporary medical facility established for COVID-19 patients at the Yeni Klinika in Baku.
Photo credit: WHO
