Crisis Prevention and Management during SARS Outbreak, Singapore

Crisis Prevention and Management during SARS Outbreak, Singapore

Stella R. Quah, Lee Hin-Peng

We discuss crisis prevention and management during the first 3 months of the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak in Singapore. Four public health issues were considered: prevention measures, self-health evaluation, SARS knowledge, and appraisal of crisis management. We conducted telephone interviews with a representative sample of 1,201 adults, ≥21 years of age. We found that sex, age, and attitude (anxiety and perception of open communication with authorities) were associated with practicing preventive measures. Analysis of Singapore’s outbreak improves our understanding of the social dimensions of infectious disease outbreaks.

2004

severe acute respiratory syndrome, SARS, disease prevention, infectious diseases, crisis management, Asian populations

DOI: 10.3201/eid1002.030418

Emerging Infectious Diseases

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Infectious and parasitic diseases, Medicine

EN