Mobilizing medical students for improved COVID-19 response in Nigeria: a stop gap in human resources for health

• Main Authors: Olayinka Stephen Ilesanmi, Olayide Olubunmi Olabumuyi, Aanuoluwapo Adeyimika Afolabi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: University of New South Wales 2020-10-01
• Series: Global Biosecurity
• Subjects: medical students, covid-19, human resource for health, covid-19 outbreak response, covid-19 outbreak preparedness
• Online Access: https://jglobalbiosecurity.com/articles/89

The Human Resources for Health (HRH) are one of the major building blocks of any health system. Shortage of HRH has however been observed in Nigeria during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the COVID-19 context, medical students could serve as a pool of person-power for contact tracing and to develop capacity in epidemiology and disease surveillance. Their understanding of their community makes them effective in advocacy, activism, social mobilization and risk communication. Lessons should be learnt through the identification of contextual methodology to develop the untapped capacity of HRH in outbreak preparedness and response by involving more students and other stakeholders. This will ultimately help in reducing the disparity between developed and developing countries’ health system and health event outcomes.