CORONA VIRAS TOP NEWS

The global pandemic: A look into planning, management and government strategies

Humans are currently going through some very trying times. And government leaders continue to struggle in understanding and determining which way the Coronavirus pandemic will steer the world. 

However, it seems some leaders and some countries are still not convinced – or are reluctant to act, despite a large body of knowledge and historical evidence on global pandemics.

This is because we happen to live in a society where parochial and vested interests often get priority over knowledge, truth and humanity. In most of the decision-making processes, many top leaders tend to jump towards less exhaustive, short-sighted, politically motivated and reactive firefighting strategies. 

It is difficult for them to accept any reality that is at odds with their typical mindset and also out of their comfort zones. In the end, it is always ordinary citizens who pay the price. Each bad decision takes us one more step backward.

The Covid-19 saga is different than most governments' usual response to global events. This is more immediate. Lives of people in the here and now is at risk. As such, many governments have been compelled to adopt people-centric decisions, shifting away from their usual policy-centric comfort zones. Leaders who failed to move quickly from their more familiar milieus are already facing criticism and backlashes. People in Brazil demonstrated against President Jair Bolsonaro for his inability to tackle the outbreak, undermining efforts to protect lives by preventing the spread of the virus.

After many years of governing in a vacuum, many governments are promoting extraordinary measures to help their citizens weather the financial and physical consequences of the pandemic.  The response brings to mind Abraham Lincoln's famous saying, "Government is by the people, of the people and for the people." Some media have already reported that after many years of disquiet, people have started to feel the importance and role of government in their daily lives. Top leaders are now listening to expert advice, scientific research, and modelling. And are taking measures based on those suggestions, even if they are contrary to their own values and policies.  

However, unlike any other project or crisis management, 'pandemic planning' and management is a different ball game with long-term consequences. It is about making sure human life and existence remain viable and operational while maintaining social norms, values, and the rule of law during and after the pandemic. As such, pandemic planning warrants a thorough analysis of multi-dimensional factors backed by research. In dealing with Covid-19, many countries wasted time to mobilise and exploit the full potential of their existing resources. It is often the case that our 'post-event lessons learned' from earlier case studies remain within books and journal articles and are hardly ever translated to reality during a crisis.

Mathematical and statistical models by epidemiologists are important tools for pandemic planning and response but they should be complemented by knowledge on management.

Pandemic planning needs a long-term, proactive, holistic planning rather than a hesitant, late and reactive fire-fighting mindset.

A thorough pandemic planning with a clear vision should include, clear strategies in each stage, multi-dimensional modelling to improve the effectiveness of the response, synthesisation of available data to provide enhanced situational awareness, option, and risk analysis to predict the future course of action and mitigation strategies with likely social and economic costs and impact. And pandemic planning should be followed by pandemic management.

This means complex coordination mechanisms across many departments of the health and social care systems, emergency services, different levels of central and local government, civil society, communications and media, cultural and religious organisations. 

In the heat of the moment, as is happening now, everyone's focus is on essential instruments and resources, such as ventilators, masks and sanitisers. However, just delivery and accumulation of essentials won't be enough without effective coordination for future.

Often, essential equipment and instruments lay unused or underutilised because other issues, including doctors, operators, and management are not set to function in harmony.

This causes delays and loss of lives. Simple coordination lapses can jeopardise the whole effort leading to confusion.

Even in a developed country such as Australia, contradictory messages from federal and state governments on school closures and measures for dealing with Ruby Princess cruise ship passengers created considerable confusions. And eventual penalties.

Many developing countries with varied socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds are yet to grasp the importance of a well-defined and structured governance, which is extremely critical for managing pandemics.

In the close-knit globalised society of the 21st century, Covid-19 has taught another lesson: only local management won't work unless effective global coordination is in place. This is because people's movements are far more frequent and complex than it ever was in the past.  Pandemics are a global issue, so local strategies, disharmony, and inability to reach global consensus could result in unintended consequences. Italy can be considered an unfortunate example of being caught unaware and thus missed the boat of international coordination and learning. 

In such circumstances, the United Nations could possibly play a more active role and exert far greater control in enforcing united strategies. But this is not happening due to the current status quo of UN with fragmentation and polarisation of the world order, which is again hindered by the vested interest and mindset of our top leaders. 

This is possibly high time countries leave behind their past baggage in a bid to help UN regain some power to avoid further mismanagement of crisis' such as Covid-19.

The UN, in turn, should have a strong mandate to manage global crisis without prejudice, influence, and interference. 

Each and every human is together in the fight against coronavirus. We can all contribute, starting from managing health safety at a personal level and community level. Most importantly those with essential skills should use their expertise in decision-making processes and pandemic planning and management.

In these final hours, as I am writing this piece, the tide is already hitting our shores and we must keep our heads cool and follow the pandemic plan diligently. While dealing with the big picture, we should not lose sight of taking care of crucial members of society. This includes doctors and nurses because if they all fall sick, the rest of us will be at even higher risk, and there will be no one to tackle the crisis.