Health systems resilience during COVID-19: Lessons for building back better

By: A Sagan, E Webb, N Azzopardi-Muscat, I de la Mata, M McKee, J Figueras

Published by: World Health Organization 2021 (acting as the host organization for, and secretariat of, the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies)
Health Policy Series 56

Number of pages: 108; ISBN: 978 92 890 5187 3

Freely available for download: https://tinyurl.com/27na68u2

The COVID-19 pandemic represents a health system shock of unprecedented scale. Health systems resilience – defined as the ability to absorb, adapt, and transform to cope with shocks – is needed to ensure sustained performance of the health system functions (governance, financing, resource generation, and service delivery) so that the ultimate health system goals, especially that of improving health of the population, can be achieved. As we have witnessed, few countries could achieve this goal and even fewer could do so in a sustained way – leaving all countries with important lessons to learn. The lessons derived in this study can inform both the ongoing efforts, while countries are still grappling with the pandemic, as well as help ensure these efforts also incorporate a longer-term perspective, thus improving preparedness to any future health system shocks.

This study is targeted at policymakers and has two aims. First, it provides national policymakers with evidence from other countries to assess their own responses to COVID-19 and incorporate adjustments that are appropriate for their national contexts. To this end the study offers examples of assessment areas for each of the identified strategies that can be used as the first step in national assessments of health systems resilience.

Second, the findings and lessons contained in the study enable us to draw experience from the COVID-19 pandemic to begin “building back better” to improve the response to future health systems shocks and hopefully even pre-empt them. This supports the transition from managing the crisis to achieving more resilient health systems and societies.