From response to transformation: how countries can strengthen national pandemic preparedness and response systems

Abstract

Victoria Haldane and colleagues delve into the characteristics of national responses to covid-19. They suggest actionable steps at a national level that can guide states to achieve the independent panel’s recommendations for making this the last pandemic

Leadership, politics, and communication: challenges of the epidemiology workforce during emergency response

“…The need for local solutions to local problems is increasingly highlighted in the literature [ 3 , 35 – 38 ]. Our survey found that international responders reported more challenges than national responders in navigating the political environment, collaboration, security, and language.…”

“…Our study has highlighted that epidemiology responders often do not understand the political dynamics of an outbreak, or find them difficult to navigate. Politics is a central component of outbreak management, and we need to better equip epidemiologists with political intelligence through future epidemiology training [ 38 , 49 , 51 ].…”

One lesson of COVID-19: Conduct more health policy trials

“…In the United States, Brazil, and elsewhere, extreme politicization of COVID-19 response and suspicion of public health officials and of science itself are costing many lives ( 5 , 11 ). The data and analysis from randomized HPTs could offer robust evidence and more neutral persuasion than the advice of partisan politicians and of public health officials erroneously dismissed as partisan, potentially quelling some opposition.…”

“…Unfortunately, the uncontrolled nature of these pandemic experiences makes it hard to learn much by analyzing them, except for the broadest generalizations ( 4 , 5 ). To illustrate: Denmark and Germany, two Western European countries with many affinities, had different policies on school closures.…”

Two years of COVID-19: many lessons, but will we learn?

“…In European countries, the preparedness focus had been mainly on an influenza pandemic, with exercises and pandemic planning for influenza alone and not for other respiratory infections such as those caused by coronaviruses [ 9 ]. Over the past 2 years, experiences have illustrated that national responses to COVID-19 are dependent on multiple interacting factors with a multi-sectoral whole-of-government approach, multi-level governance, apt and trusted leadership, swift coordination, well organised scientific advice, resilient health systems, and community participation in most successful responses [ 10 ].…”