PAHO Working Group To Develop Rehabilitation Guides

A Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) Working Group has been established to develop patient care guidance and rehabilitation guides to help advance healthcare workers’ knowledge and treatment of post-COVID-19 condition.

PAHO Director, Dr. Carissa Etienne, says this is in keeping with interventions identified and proposed by the World Health Organization (WHO) to guide the regional entity’s ongoing response to the pandemic’s impact on health workers and patients.

Post-COVID-19 condition, also known as ‘long COVID’, refers to mid and long-term symptoms experienced by some persons contracting the virus.

These include fatigue, breathlessness, cognitive dysfunction (for example, confusion, forgetfulness, or a lack of mental focus and clarity), muscle or body aches, headache, new loss of taste or smell, sore throat, congestion or runny nose, nausea or vomiting, and diarrhoea.

Individuals recovering are still at risk of developing post-COVID-19 condition, if infected again.

Speaking during PAHO’s recent COVID-19 digital media briefing, Dr. Etienne said studies estimate that 10 to 20 per cent of people contracting the virus may develop post-COVID condition.

She noted that consequent on the millions of confirmed cases globally, “hundreds of thousands of people may well be affected”.

The Director maintained that this is particularly challenging for PAHO member countries where 161 million COVID-19 cases were reported over the past two years, since the pandemic’s onset.

“It is difficult to be precise about how many people are affected since cases of post-COVID condition are not always officially reported. But we know that people who had underlying health conditions, people who did not get vaccinated against COVID-19, people with other risk factors, such as asthma, and those who smoke or vape are particularly at risk for this condition,” she informed.

Noting that post-COVID condition can be “extremely debilitating” and may impact persons over a protracted period, Dr. Etienne said affected individuals need professional support.

Additionally, she argued that regional health systems need to acknowledge the pandemic’s effect “and certainly to help address it”.

Against this background, Dr. Etienne advised that PAHO plans to launch the patient care guidance and rehabilitation guides shortly.

She further indicated that this would overlap with new rehabilitation clinical guidance being finalised by the WHO.