Table 6 Measures to protect and safeguard HRH

Prevent, identify and manage HRH infection

Guarantee the availability of PPE

Lack of funding was addressed by reallocating government budget and through donations. Bolivia and Ecuador also received loans

Countries made procurement regulations more flexible to facilitate purchasing

Governments determined which entities were responsible for guaranteeing PPE distribution

Chile established guidelines to promote the rational use of PPE to address shortages

Provide HRH testing

Testing process varied among countries, depending on funding source for tests, availability of inputs to perform and process tests, and defining institutions to guarantee testing

Jamaica performed risk assessment on HRH, supporting testing as needed, according to the results of the assessment

Identify risk groups by age, comorbidity, pregnancy and childcare who discontinued their activities (South America)

Risk groups impacted HRH availability

Prioritize HRH in the first phase of vaccination plan

Estimating total number of HRH for vaccination efforts

Conduct training among HRH to address concerns about vaccination safety and occurrence of adverse effects

Reduce infection risk

Address HRH uncertainty on new pathology

Train HRH on prevention, control, diagnosis and treatment of

COVID-19

Technological resources facilitated access to training but did not allow for interaction with the instructor

Need to implement mechanisms evaluating the competencies acquired and recognize this learning to advance HRH’s professional career

Requires joint action with academia and with the ministries of health and education

Need for continuous education/training and pandemic preparedness [22]

Address HRH uncertainty on new pathology and the uncertainty of exposing their family to COVID-19

Improve working conditions

Provide life insurance for HRH (Bolivia, Chile and Peru)

In Bolivia, life insurance covered HRH working in both the public and private sectors. In Peru and Chile, it only covered the public sector

Recognize COVID-19 as an occupational disease for HRH (Chile and Colombia)

Required coordination between ministries of health and labour was recognized under safety and occupational law

Reinforce HRH mental health

Implement or strengthen plans and guidelines to prevent and mitigate mental health disorders in HRH and their immediate family

(South America and Grenada)

There is no information available on the effect of these measures on HRH mental health.^a

Improve working conditions

Bonuses and pay increases

Need to evaluate which incentives should continue, as well as their design (with possible risks and incentives) and funding sources

Need to design a combination of retention mechanisms to address such challenges as distance to work, career growth opportunities and training availability, among others