The Report sheds light on the health systems challenges exacerbated by the COVID 19 pandemic globally. How can governments overcome lack of preparation and staff and underinvestment to adapt their health systems to be ready for the next crisis?
Having challenged health systems globally, COVID 19 has highlighted the imperative of health system resilience. Using a resilience lens, this report recommends six policy areas for attention-population health, health workforce retention, data collection and use, international cooperation, supply chain resilience, trust in leadership and governance. It calls for major investment in the health workforce, alongside increased spending on prevention and digital infrastructure.
Addressing underinvestment
Investing in health system resilience is not purely a matter of spending more- it is also about spending better by targeting priority investments in areas where health systems proved insufficiently resourced to withstand shocks.
Annual investments to improve health system resilience across OECD countries would represent around 1.4% of GDP on average, relative to 2019 expenditure. While many countires have increased spending since the pandemic, rushed crisis spending does not boost resilience for the future and costs more than upfront targeted investments. Greater efforts are needed in three critical investment areas: preventive care; health workforce; and health information systems and infrastructure, to improve the use of data for better decision making, surveillance and research.
The pandemic demonstrated the importance of a whole-of-society approach in improving health systems efficiency. Against this backdrop, there are significant social and economic benefits of investing in health system resilience.
For more information please see: OECD (2023), Ready for the Next Crisis? Investing in Resilient Health Systems, OECD Health Policy Series.
