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View all search resultsPandemic shows need to improve medical research
A significant body of data on COVID-19 has been generated, but much of it is either flawed, irrelevant or inadequately translated to practice.
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T
he COVID-19 pandemic is an unprecedented public health crisis, which as of July 23, had infected more than 193 million people and claimed 4.14 million lives across the globe. As a new disease with so many unknowns, COVID-19 poses great challenges to inadequately-prepared healthcare systems worldwide.
The many unknown aspects of the disease, in combination with political and economic factors, weak leadership and asymptomatic air-borne infectiousness, enabled COVID-19 to grow into a public health emergency of international concern – the World Health Organization’s highest level of alarm – in the month following China’s formal report of the illness to the WHO.
Medical research is critical to understanding the essential characteristics of a new disease in order to prevent, treat and contain it. The ability to generate a vast body of evidence alone is not sufficient. The evidence must be unbiased, credible and analyzed in a scientifically robust and practically useful way.
COVID-19 galvanized researchers worldwide and many switched their focus to it. Ultimately, a significant body of data was generated, but much of it was either flawed, irrelevant or inadequately translated to practice. Resources and, critically, time were thus inefficiently spent as the health crisis unfolded in 2020. The scientific responses to such crises can be made more dynamic, critical and open to rapid evidence-driven adjustments.
Several examples highlight the power of scientifically robust evidence as a tool to help curb the COVID-19 pandemic. Vaccines are a prime example. Existing research into coronaviruses in combination with novel vaccine technology platforms helped accelerate vaccine development, and today at least 11 coronavirus vaccines are in use globally.
We applaud the Indonesian government’s timely research response, which prioritized resources to support critical research activities, along with incubating biotechnical innovation. However, this pandemic has also exposed some vulnerabilities in the country’s research infrastructure and practices.
While high-income countries (HIC) have contributed most of the scientific evidence, evidence generated by/in collaboration with low- and middle-income countries (LMIC), including Indonesia, will help identify responses relevant to less well-resourced settings.
