Assessing resilience of a health system is difficult but necessary to prepare for the next crisis

Health systems must constantly prepare for crises that threaten their operations. These include shocks that arise rapidly and are largely unforeseen, like pandemics or extreme weather events.1 Other types of shocks can arise more insidiously, such as the strains created by prolonged austerity or ageing populations. Yet as covid-19 showed, when a shock arrives, health systems are often unprepared.The concept of resilience has often been invoked in discussions of health system preparedness and response to crises. However, with this increased interest comes confusion about what health system resilience actually is and how it can be applied and measured to decide if a health system is resilient.2 While it is difficult to agree a comprehensive measure of resilience, valuable insights can be gained by looking at how well health systems performed during covid-19 to help prepare for future shocks.2What is health system resilience?Put simply, something is resilient if it can, at…
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