A multinational Delphi consensus to end the COVID-19 public health threat

Jeffrey V Lazarus*, Diana Romero, Christopher J Kopka, Salim Abdool Karim, Laith J Abu-Raddad, Gisele Almeida, Ricardo Baptista-Leite, Joshua A Barocas, Mauricio L Barreto, Yaneer Bar-Yam, Quique Bassat, Carolina Batista, Morgan Bazilian, Shu-Ti Chiou, Carlos Del Rio, Gregory J Dore, George F Gao, Lawrence O Gostin, Margaret Hellard, Jose L JimenezGagandeep Kang, Nancy Lee, Mojca Matičič, Martin McKee, Sabin Nsanzimana, Miquel Oliu-Barton, Bary Pradelski, Oksana Pyzik, Kenneth Rabin, Sunil Raina, Sabina Faiz Rashid, Magdalena Rathe, Rocio Saenz, Sudhvir Singh, Malene Trock-Hempler, Sonia Villapol, Peiling Yap, Agnes Binagwaho, Adeeba Kamarulzaman, Ayman El-Mohandes, COVID-19 Consensus Statement Panel

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

Despite notable scientific and medical advances, broader political, socioeconomic and behavioural factors continue to undercut the response to the COVID-19 pandemic<sup>1,2</sup>. Here we convened, as part of this Delphi study, a diverse, multidisciplinary panel of 386 academic, health, non-governmental organization, government and other experts in COVID-19 response from 112 countries and territories to recommend specific actions to end this persistent global threat to public health. The panel developed a set of 41 consensus statements and 57 recommendations to governments, health systems, industry and other key stakeholders across six domains: communication; health systems; vaccination; prevention; treatment and care; and inequities. In the wake of nearly three years of fragmented global and national responses, it is instructive to note that three of the highest-ranked recommendations call for the adoption of whole-of-society and whole-of-government approaches<sup>1</sup>, while maintaining proven prevention measures using a vaccines-plus approach<sup>2</sup> that employs a range of public health and financial support measures to complement vaccination. Other recommendations with at least 99% combined agreement advise governments and other stakeholders to improve communication, rebuild public trust and engage communities<sup>3</sup> in the management of pandemic responses. The findings of the study, which have been further endorsed by 184 organizations globally, include points of unanimous agreement, as well as six recommendations with &gt;5% disagreement, that provide health and social policy actions to address inadequacies in the pandemic response and help to bring this public health threat to an end.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)332-345
Number of pages14
JournalNature
Volume611
Issue number7935
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 3 Nov 2022

Keywords

  • Humans
  • COVID-19/economics
  • Delphi Technique
  • Government
  • Pandemics/economics
  • Public Health/economics
  • International Cooperation
  • Organizations
  • COVID-19 Vaccines
  • Communication
  • Health Education
  • Health Policy
  • Public Opinion

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