International Journal of Health Policy and Management

International Journal of Health Policy and Management

We Need a Combination of Approaches to Evaluate Health System Resilience; Comment on “Re-evaluating Our Knowledge of Health System Resilience During COVID-19: Lessons From the First Two Years of the Pandemic

Document Type : Commentary

Authors
Julia Zimmermann 1
Marina Karanikolos 2
Jonathan Cylus 1
Martin McKee 3
1 European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, London School of Economics and Political Science, London, UK
2 European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK
3 London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK
10.34172/ijhpm.8564
Abstract
Health system resilience has become a desirable health system attribute in the current permacrisis environment. The article by Saulnier and colleagues reviews the literature on health system resilience and refines the concept, pinpointing dimensions of resilience governance that have not reached consensus, or that are missing from the literature. In this commentary we complement the findings by discussing different conceptual frameworks for understanding resilience and introducing resilience testing, a method to assess health system resilience using a hypothetical shock scenario. Resilience testing is a mixed-methods approach that combines a review of existing data with a structured workshop, where health system experts collaboratively assess the resilience of their health system. The new method is proposed as a tool for policy-making, as the results can identify attributes of the current health system that may hinder or boost a resilient response to the next crisis.
Keywords
Resilience
Health System
Health System Resilience
Health System Performance
Health Security
Preparedness Planning
  1. Saulnier DD, Duchenko A, Ottilie-Kovelman S, Tediosi F, Blanchet K. Re-evaluating our knowledge of health system resilience during COVID-19: lessons from the first two years of the pandemic. Int J Health Policy Manag. 2023;12:6659. doi:34172/ijhpm.2022.6659
  2. Brown G, El-Erian M, Spence M, Lidow R. Permacrisis: A Plan to Fix a Fractured World. Simon and Schuster; 2023.
  3. McKee M. Drawing Light from the Pandemic: A New Strategy for Health and Sustainable Development. European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies; 2021.
  4. Castleden M, McKee M, Murray V, Leonardi G. Resilience thinking in health protection. J Public Health (Oxf). 2011;33(3):369-377. doi:1093/pubmed/fdr027
  5. Sagan A, Thomas S, Webb E, McKee M. Assessing resilience of a health system is difficult but necessary to prepare for the next crisis. BMJ. 2023;382:e073721. doi:1136/bmj-2022-073721
  6. Blanchet K, Nam SL, Ramalingam B, Pozo-Martin F. Governance and capacity to manage resilience of health systems: towards a new conceptual framework. Int J Health Policy Manag. 2017;6(8):431-435. doi:15171/ijhpm.2017.36
  7. Correia T, Ricciardi W, McKee M. Preparing for the 'next pandemic': why we need to escape from our silos. Int J Health Plann Manage. 2024;39(4):973-979. doi:1002/hpm.3757
  8. Witter S, Thomas S, Topp SM, et al. Health system resilience: a critical review and reconceptualisation. Lancet Glob Health. 2023;11(9):e1454-e1458. doi:1016/s2214-109x(23)00279-6
  9. Copeland S, Hinrichs-Krapels S, Fecondo F, Santizo ER, Bal R, Comes T. A resilience view on health system resilience: a scoping review of empirical studies and reviews. BMC Health Serv Res. 2023;23(1):1297. doi:1186/s12913-023-10022-8
  10. Zimmermann J, McKee C, Karanikolos M, Cylus J. Strengthening Health Systems: A Practical Handbook for Resilience Testing. WHO Regional Office for Europe, OECD Publishing; 2024.
  11. Rajan D, Papanicolas I, Karanikolos M, et al. Health System Performance Assessment: A Renewed Global Framework for Policy-Making. WHO Regional Office for Europe (On Behalf of the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies); 2023.
  12. Thomas S, Sagan A, Larkin J, Cylus J, Figueras J, Karanikolos M. Strengthening Health Systems Resilience: Key Concepts and Strategies. Copenhagen: European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies; 2020.
  13. Tynkkynen L, Karreinen S, Keskimäki I, Satokangas M, Viita-Aho M. Lessons from the health system resilience testing pilot in Finland. Eur J Public Health. 2023;33(Suppl 2):ckad160.390. doi:1093/eurpub/ckad160.390
  14. Douglas M, Katikireddi SV, Taulbut M, McKee M, McCartney G. Mitigating the wider health effects of covid-19 pandemic response. BMJ. 2020;369:m1557. doi:1136/bmj.m1557
  15. World Health Organization (WHO). Health System Resilience Indicators: An Integrated Package for Measuring and Monitoring Health System Resilience in Countries. WHO; 2024.
International Journal of Health Policy and Management
Volume 13, Issue 1
2024
Pages 1-3

  • Received Date 30 April 2024
  • Revised Date 21 June 2024
  • Accepted Date 06 July 2024
  • First Published Date 07 July 2024
  • Published Date 01 December 2024