Assessing health systems' responsiveness in tackling COVID-19 pandemic

Health systems' responsiveness is the key to addressing infectious disease threats such as pandemics. The article outlines an assessment of health systems based on World Health Organization's building blocks for select countries. It also compares these with the findings from a more comprehensive analysis of Global Health Security (GHS) Index, which assesses the preparedness of the health system for such pandemics. The GHS report (2019) spelt out very objectively that none of the countries of the world was prepared to effectively handle such emergencies, should they arise. Observations emerging from different countries highlight these findings although some of them seem to be discordant. Overall, it appears that Asian countries could fight the battle better than most developed nations in the Europe and America during the current pandemic, despite having poor GHS scores. Experiences of these countries in facing similar crisis in the past probably sensitized their strained health systems for a greater good. There are several lessons to be learned from such countries.