Pragmatic recommendations for management of COVID-19 in low- and middle-income countries

A new supplement offering guidance on severe COVID-19 management in resource-limited settings is now available on the American Journal of Tropical Medicine (AJTMH) website. Pragmatic Recommendations for the Management of Hospitalized COVID-19 Patients in Low- and Middle-Income Countries was coordinated by a COVID-LMIC Task Force headed by Alfred Papali, MD, of Atrium Health, Charlotte, NC, and Marcus Schultz, MD, PhD, of Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand; University of Oxford, United Kingdom; and Amsterdam University Medical Centers, The Netherlands.

"We've been working with an international group of healthcare workers from or with experience in LMICs to provide readers a series of sets of recommendations for care of critically ill hospitalized COVID-19 patients," Dr. Schultz said. "This partnership allowed us to come up with helpful and pragmatic advice, and the articles give us great insights into what might be needed to improve the outcome of critically ill COVID-19 patients in resource-limited settings. Some advice may even apply to critically ill patients not having COVID-19."

"COVID-19 has exerted an enormous impact, but most communication on the pandemic has come from high-income countries," said Philip Rosenthal, MD, FASTMH, Editor-in-Chief of the Journal. "This supplement offers a series of pragmatic recommendations from international experts on best practices for the management of COVID-19 in low- and middle-income countries. These articles should offer valuable guidance to clinicians seeking state-of-the-art management strategies while addressing the challenges of constrained healthcare settings."

The articles are as follows:

Editorial

Recommendations for the Management of COVID-19 in Low- and Middle-Income Countries

Articles

Pragmatic Recommendations for Identification and Triage of Patients with COVID-19 in Low- and Middle-Income Countries

Pragmatic Recommendations for Safety while Caring for Hospitalized Patients with COVID-19 in Low- and Middle-Income Countries

Pragmatic Recommendations for Infection Prevention and Control Practices for Healthcare Facilities in Low- and Middle-Income Countries during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Pragmatic Recommendations for the Use of Diagnostic Testing and Prognostic Models in Hospitalized Patients with Severe COVID-19 in Low- and Middle-Income Countries

Pragmatic Recommendations for Therapeutics of Hospitalized COVID-19 Patients in Low- and Middle-Income Countries

Pragmatic Recommendations for the Management of Acute Respiratory Failure and Mechanical Ventilation in Patients with COVID-19 in Low- and Middle-Income Countries

Pragmatic Recommendations for the Management of COVID-19 Patients with Shock in Low- and Middle-Income Countries

Pragmatic Recommendations for the Prevention and Treatment of Acute Kidney Injury in Patients with COVID-19 in Low- and Middle-Income Countries

Pragmatic Recommendations for the Management of Anticoagulation and Venous Thrombotic Disease for Hospitalized Patients with COVID-19 in Low- and Middle-Income Countries

Pragmatic Recommendations for Tracheostomy, Discharge, and Rehabilitation Measures in Hospitalized Patients Recovering From Severe COVID-19 in Low- and Middle-Income Countries