Preparedness is key - the challenge of COVID-19 in low resource settings: four checklists from Doctors Worldwide to prepare for COVID-19

For many low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) across the globe, the COVID-19 pandemic presents a great challenge to healthcare systems. Images of struggling hospitals in some of the wealthiest countries continue to fill news cycles, showing government plights of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) shortages, low stock and unsatisfactory distribution of ventilators, and cries over the capacity to treat critical patients. Entire hospitals constructed within a matter of weeks with adequate resources on stand-by have drawn praise for the responsiveness of healthcare services in these regions. Within these countries, the pandemic has proven challenging, as well as stretched the capability of their existing systems. When considering LMICs, COVID-19 places significant further strain on fragile healthcare provisions [1] already dealing with many endemic communicable diseases (tuberculosis, malaria, viral hepatitis and HIV) among other infectious disease outbreaks (Lassa fever, cholera) [2]. COVID-19 has the potential to cripple such systems, including areas where strides have been made to strengthen current systems and improve provision. This is even more desperate when reviewing the context and situation within temporary healthcare settings, from field hospitals in regions of conflict to clinics situated within refugee camps....