What are the lessons learnt from the pandemic on how to overcome the challenges and prepare the global health community to build resilient health systems in the future?
"Functioning health systems – both in terms of clinical response and public health services – are essential for effective responses to pandemics and other health challenges in all parts of the world" (Lancet Covid-19 Commission)
Health systems play an essential role in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and universal health coverage. A health system consists of all people, institutions, resources, and activities whose primary purpose is to promote, restore, and maintain health. Health System Strengthening comprises the strategies, responses, and activities designed to sustainably improve country health system performance.
The Covid-19 pandemic demonstrated the important role for health systems in securing people’s right to health through securing service delivery, the ability to respond to health emergencies and protect public health for all.
The Lancet Global Health Commission on high quality health systems in the SDG Era underscores that high-quality health systems should be informed by four values - being equitable, resilient, efficient, and for the people. The pandemic showed the inability of health systems to guarantee that equity and rights to health were ensured throughout the response, exacerbating underlying inequalities resulting in vulnerable groups being hit the hardest1. Despite success in achieving significant health results in low- and middle-income countries, Global health initiatives fail in shifting the pendulum towards more integrated approaches of vertical programmes needed to strengthen health systems.
Our annual one-day conference on Thursday 16 November will address components and issues essential to strengthening health systems in an inclusive, resilient, and equitable manner. We aim for the sessions to facilitate reflections and learning from the pandemic on how to overcome the challenges and to prepare the global health community to build resilient health systems in the future.
The conference is organized by the Centre of Global Health at the Sustainable Health Unit at the University of Oslo and the Norwegian Institute of Public Health on behalf of Global Health Norway.