The COVID-19 pandemic has caused unprecedented disruption worldwide highlighting once again the interdependency of health and socioeconomic development, and the global lack of health systems resilience. Two years into the pandemic, most countries report sustained disruptions across service delivery platforms and health areas with a profound impact on health outcomes. The impact of these disruptions is magnified within marginalized communities and in countries experiencing protracted conflict. There is an urgent need to focus on recovery through investment in the essential public health functions (EPHFs) and the foundations of health systems with a focus on primary health care, and whole-of-government and -society engagement. The aim of this Research Topic is to gather, transfer and promote operationalization of key experiences from COVID-19 to inform global and country level recovery that better promote health; guide policy direction towards building health systems resilience; and thereby ensure economic and social prosperity. Experience with COVID-19 has demonstrated that traditional approaches to health system strengthening have failed to achieve the complementary goals of Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and health security with the divide between the most vulnerable and well-off only widening. Much of what had been learned from previous experiences such as Ebola in West Africa has not been widely applied. This has left health and economic systems vulnerable to 21 st century public health challenges, ranging from conflict and natural disasters to aging demographics and rising rates of non-communicable and communicable diseases and antimicrobial resistance. These challenges require intentional focus and investment as well as whole-of-government and -society engagement with health to build health system resilience. Greater action is needed to prevent the devastating effects of war and conflict on the health of the most vulnerable. This Research Topic will convene the knowledge and practices of leaders in public health, health systems, and humanitarian and development sectors. This is to ensure lessons from COVID-19 inform the recovery agenda and promote sustainable health and socioeconomic recovery for all. Lest we forget and find ourselves again unprepared and vulnerable in the face of an even greater threat.

The UHC Partnership (UHC-P) is a collaborative agreement between WHO, several donors (namely: the EU, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, Irish Aid, the Government of Japan, the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Germany, Canada, Belgium and the UK Department for International Development) and a number of partner countries (currently, 125 partner countries across all six WHO regions) to support policy dialogue on national health policies, strategies, and plans (NHPSPs) and UHC -and it is part of the WHO Special Programme on Primary Health Care (SP-PHC). Its overall objective being to improve health sector results in concerned countries, it aims at building country capacities (and strengthening country processes) for the development, negotiation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of robust and comprehensive NHPSPs with a view on promoting UHC; health in all policies; and people-centered primary care -as indeed, investments in quality primary health care (PHC) will be the cornerstone for achieving UHC around the world. The purpose of this publication is to document accomplishments of the UHC-P in 2022 for the 125 partner countries. The annual UHC-P report serves as a single report to all nine donors supporting the Partnership. It will provide a synthesis of activities and results achieved in all the participating countries; present a range of country examples related to the major areas of work; and also elaborate on how the UHC-P achieved sustainable buy-in of partners and stakeholders at the country level in the different countries concerned.

Resilient Health: Leveraging Technology and Social Innovations to Transform Healthcare for COVID-19 Recovery and Beyond presents game-changing and disruptive technological innovations and social applications in health and mental health care around the world for the post-COVID age and beyond, addressing the urgent need for care. In this first-of-its kind comprehensive volume, experts and stakeholders from all sectors - government and the public and private sectors - offer models and frameworks for policy, programming, and financing to transform healthcare, address inequities, close the treatment gap, and “build back better,” especially for under-resourced vulnerable communities globally, to “leave no one behind” and advance development globally. Contributions from world experts cover 8 essential parts: The context and challenges for resilient health systems to shape the future; developments and directions (AI, VR, MR, IVAs and more); an innovations toolbox, also targeted for special populations and settings (women, youth, ageing, migrants, disabled persons, indigenous peoples, in the workplace); the role of stakeholders (governments, the public and private sector); forums and networks; innovative financing; resources, lessons learned and the way forward. Addresses the “hot” topic today in the ever-emerging landscape of disruptive digital healthcare delivery, covering critical issues and solutions in digital health, big data, and artificial intelligence as well as benefits and challenges, and ethical concerns Provides case examples of transformative and radical solutions to urgent health needs, especially in remote low-resource settings as well as in less well-covered regions of Central and South America and MENA (Middle East and North Africa) Positions health innovations at the nexus of the global framework of Universal Health Coverage and of the United Nations Sustainable Developing Goals to achieve SDG3 - good health and well-being –at the intersection with climate action, gender equality, quality education, eradication of poverty and hunger, sustainable cities, environmental protection and others. Serves as an exceptional resource, reference, teaching tool, and guide for all stakeholders including civil society and NGOs, government, think tanks, investors, academia, researchers and practitioners, product developers and all policymakers and programmers involved in planning and delivering healthcare, including an extensive section of resources in the digital health space in various categories like publications, conferences, and collaboratives. Provides examples of, and encourages, multi-stakeholder partnerships essential to re-imagine health systems, delivery and access, and to achieve intended healthcare objectives

The Policy Actions for COVID-19 Economic Recovery (PACER) Dialogues were held from June to September 2020 as the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic accelerated around the world. They shared cutting-edge knowledge and best practices to help countries in Southeast Asia and the People's Republic of China strengthen cooperation to mitigate the devastating effects of COVID-19 and accelerate their economic recovery. This compendium of 13 policy briefs summarizes the discussions, recommendations, and actionable insights from the PACER Dialogues.

Health systems are fluid and their components are interdependent in complex ways. Policymakers, academics and students continually endeavour to understand how to manage health systems to improve the health of populations. However, previous scholarship has often failed to engage with the intersections and interactions of health with a multitude of other systems and determinants. This book ambitiously takes on the challenge of presenting health systems as a coherent whole, by applying a systems-thinking lens. It focuses on Malaysia as a case study to demonstrate the evolution of a health system from a low-income developing status to one of the most resilient health systems today. A rich collaboration of multidisciplinary academics working with policymakers who were at the coalface of decision-making and practitioners with decades of experience, provides a candid analysis of what worked and what did not. The result is an engaging, informative and thought-provoking intervention in the debate. This title is Open Access.

Economic shocks pose a threat to health and health system performance by increasing people's need for health care and making access to care more difficult - a situation compounded by cuts in public spending on health and other social services. But these negative effects can be avoided by timely public policy action. While important public policy levers lie outside the health sector, in the hands of those responsible for fiscal policy and social protection, the health system response is critical. This book looks at how health systems in Europe reacted to pressure created by the financial and economic crisis that began in 2008. Drawing on the experience of over 45 countries, the authors:' analyse health system responses to the crisis in three policy areas: public funding for the health system; health coverage; and health service planning, purchasing and delivery 'assess the impact of these responses on health systems and population health' identify policies most likely to sustain the performance of health systems facing financial pressure' explore the political economy of implementing reforms in a crisisThe book is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the choices available to policy-makers - and the implications of failing to protect health and health-system performance - in the face of economic and other forms of shock.--

Health system recovery from disruptive events presents a window of opportunity for substantial improvements, applying lessons from ongoing or past experiences with shocks to build back better. Therefore, in addition to facilitating restoration to the pre-shock state, health systems recovery processes including planning can also address pre-existing and ongoing gaps, weaknesses and inequities by facilitating continuous and systematic improvement leading to better performance and resilience. This WHO technical product aims to support countries to prioritize and mainstream health system recovery through effective planning as part of efforts to build health system resilience in support of universal health coverage, health security and socioeconomic development. While this document is developed for application in recovery context, it is adaptable to other health system strengthening and reform processes initiated in recognition of gaps in health system functions, not necessarily in the context of a shock event. The target audience is health authorities at national and subnational levels in countries, WHO, other United Nations agencies, technical partners, and donors with a role to support health systems in any context.

The Syrian crisis is one of the most serious humanitarian disasters in recent history. Yet the widely reported numbers--more than 6 million displaced, including 5 million refugees--reflect only a fractional toll of the conflict. Numerous international organizations, states, and civil society movements have called for the laws of war to be respected, sieges lifted, and humanitarian access facilitated. But beneath each of these humanitarian appeals lies a complicated reality extending beyond the binary narratives that have come to define the war in Syria. Everybody's War examines the complexities of humanitarianism in Syria and the wide-ranging consequences for both Syria's populations and humanitarian responses to future conflicts. Organized by M?decins Sans Fronti?res, this edited volume brings together academics and humanitarian practitioners from across the globe to provide a multitude of perspectives on the politics of aid in the Syrian war. Contributors explore the humanitarian crisis behind the Syrian conflict through the history and fragmentation of Syrian health care, the role of international humanitarian law in enabling attacks on health facilities, and the lived experience of siege in all its layers. Further attention is given to the ways in which humanitarian actors have fed the war economy and joined the information wars that have raged throughout the region over the past ten years. While the Syrian crisis has been everybody's war, it has certainly not been everybody's victory. This volume shares the intricate story of aid delivery and humanitarian complicity within one of the defining conflicts of the twenty-first century.