Covid-19 in the Developing World: Managing One of The Gambia's Most Fatal Public Health Crisis

The purpose of this case study is to explore how the developing world managed the Coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak, while highlighting a case study on The Gambia’s public health response between March 2020 to March 2021. The Gambia government missed an opportunity during a crucial grace period between December 2019 and March 17, 2020 (when the West African country confirmed its first case), to plan and implement basic public health safeguards and border security measures. Though response efforts were initiated by public health officials promptly after the March 17 timeline - by primarily declaring and administering public health policy directives - practical measures that were considered effective in the months following initial policy roll-out were deemed lackluster and unsustainable due to ad hoc decision-making that were not guided by robust pre-existing public health emergency plans. The response was further exacerbated by limited resources, inconsistent public health risk awareness strategies that were rarely adhered to and poor government leadership. Examining how the state navigated its public health response identifies gaps between government policy and implementation, thereby, affirming the main hypothesis. The research further analyzes socio-economic disparities faced by Gambians, geopolitical issues encountered beyond the state’s control, fragile social infrastructures, and threats to livelihoods and the well-being of vulnerable groups using a qualitative methodology approach. This study comprised of 10 semi-structured interview questions that targeted 15 government health officials to assess underlying barriers that adversely contributed to unenforced measures. Data results from this case study aim to inform areas of improvement for The Gambia’s future pandemic mitigation and response plans.

Author dc:creator

• Bala-Gaye, Adam

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Hanlon, Robert, J.

• School of humanitarian studies

Language dc:language.iso

en_US

Identifier URI

https://doi.org/10.25316/ir-19727

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:null:10613/28101