Resilience in public health: precepts, concepts, challenges, and perspectives

Abstract

In a health system, resilience is manifested in the ability to adapt to demands or to adverse and disruptive events, such as epidemics and/or disasters, adjusting its functioning to stressful situations, before, during or after these exceptional disturbances, while maintaining the functioning and quality of assistance, thus preserving its regular activities and properties. In this essay, we present some concepts about resilience in complex systems and their applications in health systems and organizations, involving the resilience of individuals, teams, and organizations. Challenges and perspectives for improving the resilient behavior of the Brazilian Unified Health System (SUS) are also highlighted, a topic that has gained enormous attention in the COVID-19 pandemic. We conclude by emphasizing the need for more research on the various topics involving resilience in healthcare to strengthen the capacity of the SUS to cope with both daily challenges and future health crises.