Urgent work is needed to usher in a strategic shift towards GHS-aligned UHC programmes, especially with expansion of health coverage showing signs of slowing globally as public spending falls short of society’s demands. Although the COVID-19 response is ongoing and contexts are constantly evolving, how countries respond to pandemics is ultimately dependent on how resilient their health systems are, with effective response required to control the immediate outbreak and mitigate downstream health effects.67 With the effects of additional sociopolitical factors, such as protracted crises, race, gender, climate change, economic status, and differing social contracts between citizens and their governments, the influence of competing priorities in the governance for global health should be integrated into traditional preparedness and response guidance. A reimagined framework for global health that prioritises health-system integration across UHC and GHS domains, innovative and unified health financing, cross-sector resilience indicators, and equity as a core value offers a necessary path ahead. National authorities developing health-system priorities and funders, who control expenditure, agenda setting, and prioritisation of investment, cannot continue business as usual. To rebuild a more sustainable future after COVID-19, embedding the core capacities of GHS into holistic, publicly financed UHC systems is the clear next step forward. We cannot keep jumping from one epidemic to the next while ignoring the political will that is required to invest in the foundations of health for all. In the end, truly universal, comprehensive health systems in all countries, which have integrated core capacities for public health and are aligned across all levels of governance, will be our strongest defence against the next great pandemic.
Source : Lancet