E-DRUG: PHM Korea statement on COVID-19 outbreak & responses in South Korea
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[Although this message is not strictly 'essential drug related' I believe this information from the People's Health Movement South Korea is important to share. BS Moderator]
Dear colleagues,
South Korea (hereafter Korea)'s COVID-19 outbreak and response are still
ongoing, and assessment of it is rather hasty. But we share this
conditional statement because we think it is our responsibility to share
Korea's experience with civil society around the world, which is
experiencing COVID-19 outbreak one tempo later than ours. In particular, we
hope that the main barriers to the government responses and the efforts of
the Korean civil society to find and fill the blind spots out of reach of
the government policies or existing systems will be a lesson for the civil
society of each country in the responses of COVID-19.
The full-text is quite long. Please contact Sun Kim <sunkim@health.re.kr> for an attachment if you can't open the link.
The statement concludes
'The government showed rather proper responsiveness; for example,
undocumented immigrants can get the test without risk of deportation
according to the decree of Ministry of Law,[27] and the Seoul
Metropolitan Government began to provide 'emergency care' services for the
disabled and the elderly who experienced the interruption of daily care
services.[28] Although the government has shown unprecedented
efforts and quick responses, the problems rooted in long-time
underinvestment in the social security system cannot be easily tackled.
'Many NGOs and voluntary community organizations are now trying to find and
fill the blind spots in cooperation with local governments.
'We hope this outbreak could facilitate social discussions for establishing
a robust social protection system in Korea.
'However, we could manage the situation better if we work together. Such
loopholes could be filled through a 'healthy' partnership between the
government and the civil society. The social power, including the CSOs,
works to make the government actions more equitable and effective. The
Korean civil society is closely monitoring the COVID-19 responses, as it
did in the 2015 MERS-CoV outbreak,[29] We believe that 'participatory governance' would be effective for dealing with pandemic as well as defending democracy. We will keep working in solidarity.
http://phmovement.or.kr/phm-korea-statement-on-covid-19-outbreak-and-responses-in-south-korea/
pdf version of the statement:
PHM_Korea_statement_on_COVID_19_outbreak_and_responses_in_South_Korea
Sun Kim, M.S., Ph.D.
Regional coordinator, People's Health Movement (PHM) South East Asia & Asia
Pacific (SEAP)
Director, Health Policy Research Center, People's Health Institute (PHI)
South Korea http://health.re.kr/?page_id=35