Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are one of the important players during a pandemic, including the Islamic Medical Association of Malaysia (IMAM) Response and Relief Team (IMARET). During the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, IMARET played a key role in assisting health relief efforts in Malaysia. We are sharing this experience as a medical NGO’s response to the pandemic. This report presents data from the March 18 to June 10, 2020, retrieved from IMARET’s database with approval from the Executive Committee and the IMARET COVID-19 Task Force. We report that IMARET’s task force consists of 30 people, mostly medical doctors. Supplies distributed included personal protective equipment with other medical equipment, such as portable ultrasounds and ventilators. IMARET engaged with 33 collaborators and 92 partners and funders. There were 135 volunteers with the majority being medical volunteers. IMARET raised more than RM $3 million (US $740 000) garnering support from over 40 000 donors in 85 days. In conclusion, NGOs play a significant role that effectively enhance and complement the consolidated works by the authorities and public in the effort to overcome COVID-19 challenges.

As the COVID-19 pandemic runs its course around the globe, a mismatch of resources and needs arises: In some areas, health care systems are faced with an increased number of COVID-19 patients potentially exceeding their capacity, whereas, in other areas, health care systems are faced with procedural cancelations and a drop in demands. TeamHealth in Knoxville, Tennessee, a multidisciplinary health care organization, was able to roll out a systemic approach to redeploy its clinicians practicing in the fields of emergency medicine, hospital medicine, and anesthesiology from areas of less need (faced with reduced or no work) to areas outside of their normal practice facing immediate need.

Alternative care sites (ACS) across the United States were widely underutilized during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, while the volume and severity of COVID-19 cases overwhelmed health systems across the United States. The challenges presented by the pandemic have shown the need to design surge capacity principles with consideration for demand that strains multiple response capabilities. We reviewed current policy and previous literature from past ACS as well as highlighted challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic, to make recommendations that can inform future surge capacity planning. Our recommendations include: (1) Preparedness actions need to be continuous and flexible; (2) staffing needs must be met as they arise with solutions that are specific to the pandemic; 3) health equity must be a focus of ACS establishment and planning; and (4) ACS should be designed to function without compromising safe and effective care. A critical opportunity exists to identify improvements for future use of ACS in pandemics.

The COVID-19 pandemic has placed significant strain on emergency departments (EDs) that were not designed to care for many patients who may be highly contagious. This report outlines how a busy urban ED was adapted to prepare for COVID-19 via 3 primary interventions: (1) creating an open-air care space in the ambulance bay to cohort, triage, and rapidly test patients with suspected COVID-19, (2) quickly constructing temporary doors on all open treatment rooms, and (3) adapting and expanding the waiting room. This description serves as a model by which other EDs can repurpose their own care spaces to help ensure safety of their patients and health care workers.

During the 2016 Kumamoto earthquake, 10 hospitals took responsibility for complete evacuation, in what has become regarded as one of the largest evacuations of patients in 1 seismic disaster. We aimed to examine the reasons for evacuation and to assess hospital vulnerability as well as preparedness for the earthquake. A multidisciplinary team conducted semi-structured interviews with the hospitals 6 months after the earthquake. The primary reasons for the decision to evacuate hospitals were categorized into 3: 1) Concern for structural safety (4 facilities), 2) Damage to the facility water system (7 facilities), and 3) Cessation of regional water supply (5 facilities).

All hospitals decided on immediate evacuation within 30 hours and could not wait for structural engineers to inspect the affected buildings. Damage to sprinklers or water facilities caused severe water shortages and flood, thus requiring weeks to resume inpatient care. The earthquake revealed the vulnerability of rapid building-inspection systems, aging buildings, and water infrastructure.

Ethnic minorities with different languages and religions are potentially vulnerable not only during natural hazard-related disasters, but also during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Their vaccination coverage may be lower, and vaccination strategies should prevent them from being left behind. This report presents the first case in Japan where a mosque, being the hub of foreign Muslims, was used as a vaccination site from the end of July 2021. The targeted mosque was Ebina Mosque in Kanagawa Prefecture, and most of the vaccine recipients were foreign Muslims. The mosque differed from other vaccination sites in that reservations could be made easily through the managers, and linguistic diversity (i.e., the mosque managers and mosque-related volunteers served as interpreters) and gender were considered. These efforts are likely to have removed some barriers to vaccination for ethnic minorities and contributed to “no one will be left behind.”

Infectious disease modeling plays an important role in the response to infectious disease outbreaks, perhaps most notably during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. In our experience working with state and local governments during COVID-19 and previous public health crises, we have observed that, while the scientific literature focuses on models’ accuracy and underlying assumptions, an important limitation on the effective application of modeling to public health decision-making is the ability of decision-makers and modelers to work together productively. We therefore propose a set of guiding principles, informed by our experience, for working relationships between decision-makers and modelers. We hypothesize that these guidelines will improve the utility of infectious disease modeling for public health decision-making, irrespective of the particular outbreak in question and of the precise modeling approaches being used.

As the most important centers providing medical services during disasters and emergencies, hospitals have special structural complexities. Furthermore, the hospitals are exposed to many intrinsic and extrinsic hazards, including fire. On November 28, 2018, at 9:25 am (local time), a fire started in Ayatollah Taleghani Hospital of Ilam, affiliated with Ilam University of Medical Sciences, Iran. Immediately, to save patients’ lives and prevent injuries to them, the horizontal and then vertical evacuation was performed to transfer patients to other hospitals by helping the support organizations. No physical injuries or deaths were reported in this incident. The results of this case study showed that hospitals should be sufficiently prepared to respond effectively to accidents and disasters, so it is needed to prepare and practice response programs and train hospital staff and managers.

On April 30, 2021, a total of 45 died and 112 were injured in a crowd crush at a religious festival on Mount Meron, Israel. Unlike a bomb blast, building collapse, mass shooting, or stampede, the incident lacked a dramatic, noticeable trigger and may be termed a “silent mass casualty incident (MCI).” This may have resulted in a slight delay in response. Magen David Adom (MDA)—Israel’s National Emergency Medical Services Organization—was the main prehospital response to the MCI. MDA’s intense planning, organization of medical infrastructure, and on-site MCI drill before the event allowed for the rapid, coordinated treatment and evacuation of casualties by ambulance and helicopter. The use of volunteers facilitated an effective response to the event. A “rolling reinforcement” system of ambulances helped treat and transport those at the scene while placing staff at stations throughout the country to serve routine emergency calls.

Given the unstoppable spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), the development of a vaccine was needed to contain the pandemic. In such a situation of global emergency, regulatory authorities ensured timely, safe, and equitable access to the vaccine.

This article aims to outline the roles of the Tunisian regulatory authority, the Directorate of Pharmacy and Medicines (DPM) at the Ministry of Health, in registration and procurement of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Requirement to grant the Exceptional Provisional Authorizations of Marketing (EPAM) for COVID-19 vaccines was 27 days versus 869 days for conventional marketing authorizations (MAs). The DPM has optimized its activity through: early dialogue with manufacturers, online submission, the use of distance communication technologies. It has demonstrated unprecedented flexibility through the continuous and rolling review approach.

Regulatory authorities in Tunisia and around the world have partnered with manufacturers to speed up administrative procedures while ensuring the quality, safety, and efficacy of vaccines.