Abstract
The SARS-CoV-2 infection has resulted in massive loss of valuable human lives, extensive destruction of livelihoods and financial crisis of unprecedented levels across the globe. Kerala, a province in India, like the rest of the country, launched preventive and control measures to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 early in 2020. The Government of Kerala started 1206 Ayur Raksha Clinics and associated Task Forces across the state in April 2020 to improve the reach and penetration of Ayurvedic preventive, therapeutic and convalescent care strategies for the COVID-19 pandemic. The implementation framework of the strategy was properly designed, and had a decentralized, people-centered, and participatory approach. Kerala has robust public health machinery with adequate human resource and infrastructure in the conventional medicine sector. This community case study examines how the decentralized organizational framework was effectively utilized for facilitating the delivery of Ayurvedic services in the COVID-19 situation. Key observations from the study are: Ayurvedic programs implemented systematically, under an organized framework with social participation enables wider utilization of the services. Such a framework is easily replicable even in resource-poor settings. Rather than a pluralistic approach, an integrative health system approach may be more viable in the Kerala scenario in public health emergencies.
Highlights
The World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 outbreak as a global pandemic in March 2020 [1]
Of the 394,269 individuals quarantined in the state from 21 May 2020 to 8 July 2020, 101,218 (25.7%) individuals were covered under Amritham (Figure 2)
We found after study of the data that only 347 individuals (0.34 percent of those covered under Amritham) tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 infection during their quarantine course under the Amritham program
Summary
The World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 outbreak as a global pandemic in March 2020 [1]. Most countries launched mitigatory steps to check the spread of infection, which included multisectoral emergency responses, establishment of quarantine or isolation centers, setting up of diagnostic and treatment facilities, and adequate intensive care services [2]. As of 28 June 2021, the number of human lives lost in this pandemic is over 39 million [9]. With more than 30 million cases in India as of 28 June 2021 and with danger of a third wave looming large over the country, the federal (central) and provincial (state) governments have taken concerted efforts to accelerate the vaccination drive, coupled with active management of all positive cases and coordinated preventive and mitigatory strategies [14, 15]
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