Examining Bangladesh’s responses to COVID-19 in light of Vietnam: Lessons learned

Authors

  • Md. Nazmul Huda University of New South Wales https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7048-1266
  • Helal Uddin East West University
  • Md Kamrul Hasan Western Sydney University
  • James Sujit Malo The Leprosy Mission International
  • Minh Cuong Duong University of New South Wales
  • Muhammad Aziz Rahman Federation University Australia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.31646/gbio.123

Keywords:

COVID-19, Bangladesh, Vietnam, control measures, response

Abstract

This review aimed to examine the extent of Bangladesh’s COVID-19 preparedness and control measures up to 20 January 2021, and to draw some lessons for informing the current and future pandemic responses in Bangladesh in light of Vietnam’s responses, which had successfully controlled the pandemic. We performed a content analysis of data to identify similarities and critical discrepancies in epidemiological features and COVID-19 responses between the two countries. Findings indicated that Vietnam reported lower COVID-19 incidence (15 cases per million) and death rate (0.4 cases per million) than Bangladesh, with 3,129 cases per million and a death rate of 46 cases per million. Vietnam reported only 35 deaths, with 22 older individuals (>60 years) compared with 7,950 deaths in Bangladesh, with the highest death rate in older people (45%). An integrated approach combined with widespread contact tracing, better health investment, vaccine development, and strong political commitment enabled Vietnam to control the disease and mitigate its impacts. In contrast, Bangladesh seemed to adopt inadequate and untimely measures in the same domains, potentially contributing to relatively high COVID-19 infections and death rates. To control COVID-19 or inform responses to future pandemics, Bangladesh and similar countries can learn eight lessons from Vietnam. Such transferable responses could prepare health systems and populations for an appropriate global response to the next potential pandemic.

Author Biographies

Md. Nazmul Huda, University of New South Wales

Dr Md. Nazmul Huda has been working as a full-time lecturer in Health Sociology and sessional academic in Public Health-related courses at various institutions in Australia (UNSW, WSU, SCEI, and ACU) and Bangladesh (GUB and IUB) for nearly six years. Currently, he is working as a sessional lecturer or academic at three institutions, such as UNSW, WSU, and SCEI. In these academic roles, he became involved in activities such as lecturing, tutoring, conducting practical classes on marking assignments, student consultations and other administrative tasks on-campus, online or a combination of both. He is also a Guest Lecturer in Communicable Disease Control at UNSW. Nazmul also worked as a researcher in some international NGOs namely the Save the Children and Action Aid. Nazmul was awarded a prestigious UIPA scholarship to undertake his PhD at SPHCM. His PhD topic was 'A mixed-methods study of sex work and the HIV prevention environment for female sex workers in Bangladesh'. Nazmul’s research areas of interest include social epidemiology of infectious diseases (e.g., HIV/AIDS, STI, COVID-19, and viral respiratory infections) and community role in promoting sexual and reproductive health of marginalized populations, including female sex workers, injecting drug users, women, refugees, and migrants. He is currently working on HIV, STI, COVID-19 and psychological distress research projects in Australia and Bangladesh.

Helal Uddin, East West University

Helal Uddin is a Lecturer in the Department of Sociology at the East West University, Bangladesh.

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Published

2021-12-07

How to Cite

Huda, M. N., Uddin, H., Hasan, M. K., Malo, J. S., Cuong Duong, M., & Rahman, M. A. (2021). Examining Bangladesh’s responses to COVID-19 in light of Vietnam: Lessons learned. Global Biosecurity, 3(1). https://doi.org/10.31646/gbio.123

Issue

Vol. 3 (2021)

Section

Reviews

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Copyright (c) 2021 The Author(s)

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Received 2021-07-10
Accepted 2021-10-18
Published 2021-12-07