Epidemic preparedness in urban settings: new challenges and opportunities

The Lancet Infectious Diseases |Comment| Volume 20, ISSUE 5, P527-529, May 01, 2020
Authors: Vernon J Lee, Marc Ho, Chen Wen Kai, Ximena Aguilera, David Heymann, Annelies Wilder-Smith

Ensuring better preparedness in urban settings will require a fresh emphasis on strengthening capacities to deal with outbreaks and other health emergencies. Many of these efforts are applicable across all settings, urban or otherwise, such as having a good understanding of the local socioeconomic and cultural milieu and an active involvement of communities and local leaders in both planning and implementation. However, urban settings also offer new opportunities, such as securing the commitment of local leaders and strengthening public health networks to prevent, detect, and respond to disease threats early. Businesses can be appropriately engaged to manage employees in an emergency, and risk communication can be pushed through prevalent social media networks. Many lessons will also be learned from the city-wide community containment measures in Wuhan—the largest community quarantine exercise in history—and other containment measures rolled out in other Chinese cities and in Singapore.

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https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(20)30249-8/fulltext