COVID- 19: A Time to Disconnect or Interconnect for Global Community?
By: Antonia Ava Posted on Tue, 16-06-2020
Pandemic is the new supervillain of the year. True, it's a global challenge that humankind is struggling to fight against. The crisis is too unforgiving, impacting all the countries around the globe. Business, industries, schools, markets everything is deeply affected by COVID-19 as the conditioned worsened with time.
The Healthcare industry is suffering by miles, tourism, and hotel industry had to face a major turnover, more than 1 million people lost their jobs! It is devastating, to hear such news. By now, the majority has taken solid precautions into account i.e. the lockdown and social distancing, etc. to prevent the transmission of coronavirus
It's a communicable disease spreading in a blink of an eye, it only seems like a bedtime story when Wuhan was first infected by this novel ordeal, no one thought it's contagious enough to spread like wildfire, but it did and it seems like history is repeating itself.
However, the major lockdown is a different story altogether, it reshaped our personal and professional lives. Now we solely rely on technology and social media to survive a day by day crisis.
The only constant factor in life is CHANGE
Under exceptional circumstances, one does wonder if things will return to normal. Communities under lockdown can survive only because they have the greatest facilities of all; Technology. We are all still interconnected thanks to the internet and social media. Video calls, group conferences, and work from home may be are surviving therapy but how long will it work?
This brings us to our next question; will we see a permanent boost in the IT industry? Will the virtual business steadily grow by a leap of faith in technology?
If this was the case then why did Italy's healthcare system (considered to be the world's most advanced medicine) disrupted? So it seems the answers to these questions are still unknown. The only thing that will save us in these times is a multinational effort when each country combines their strength to survive to cooperate. Maybe then we can have a real chance against COVID-19.
SWOT Alert: Â Is Our Interconnected World Getting Stronger or Weaker?
Is globalization the root cause of the wild spread of coronavirus? With connectivity channels, transportation and advance communication, world become a global village. But can we blame this disease on our interconnected world?
Pandemic is like a complicated marriage, no one wants it yet have to suffer through it. The worst part is, we have no possible vaccine in hand at the moment. It's a tyrannical collage of research, technology, innovation, solidarity, and monetary funds.
Governments, research communities, and healthcare systems are working effortlessly, to make this work, with an impressive pace to help recover the infected patients and develop a vaccine that will put an end to this horrific nightmare.
As countries are in a collaborative effort, they keep sharing the information despite the language barriers. Translation companies are working their best at the moment to provide professional translation services in the hope anyone (country) will come with the final remedy.Â
Role of Industry, Regulators and Healthcare Organizations
Global solidarity has continued with global collaboration, thanks to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Regional Director for Europe, making sure to allow the flow of critical supplies across borders.
With the help of the Solidarity Response Fund, WHO is willing to provide tools to give behavioral insights and helping governments to fix the situation rapidly. Reports are continuously shared to keep a close eye on how much coronavirus is spreading; with the entail of death tolls, infected rate, and recovered patient's rate. The death toll rate continues to rise and to what end is yet to be seen.
Research communities are expediting new treatment options, substitute vaccines, and healthcare in general. To control the spreading of coronavirus, airspace was closed for international traveling, whereas now some countries allowed bringing back the locals stranded in foreign countries. This requires a close check on passengers, pilots, air hostesses, and other aviation staff. Isolation centers are set up with medical attention to prevent the disease from spreading from travelers.
Besides, the American Food and Drug Administration (FDA) also introduced a guide instructing the ways clinical trials should be conducted and how to minimize the disruptions during ongoing treatments. European Medicine Agency (EMA) took similar action in Europe.
The main purpose of these guidance outlines is to prevent any interruptions that may otherwise take place in ongoing clinical programs and protect the safety of the participants.
Further clinical trials are expected to be conducted in the Big Five countries; Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and the now UK) and other members EU countries as well.
Language Challenges in Multinational Trial Conduct
It brings a global challenge to combine multinational efforts at a single platform. However, such an amount of effort is not without a language barrier.
Multilingual regions like Europe have to face double challenges; conducting test trials and overcoming language barriers. This situation is resolvable by using translation services at a rapid pace. It will help to neutralize the information in target language and let regulators take further initiatives from the latest results.
Translation service providers are likely to see large multinational programs in need of accurate and efficient translation in fast turnaround time. This requires a protocol as the nature of clinical test trials is sensitive and any wrongly interpreted word can affect thousands of lives.
Medical interpreters and translators are ready to play their role for the healthcare industry, at their beck and call, to minimize the damage and work towards conclusive ends.Â
Conclusion
Pandemic has proven one thing for sure; nothing is permanent. The world is suffering through a lot of ordeals but technology is proving to be fruitful, bringing communities closer than ever despite the lockdown of travel bans. Industries and various companies like translation services are more than happy to become active participants in the search of clinical answers that we all seek as a community, how to end this war with the pandemic.
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