Health system analysis for pandemic policies: Suggestions for the Japan Institute for Health Security (JIHS)

This commentary introduces an approach to health systems analysis and reform, presents the implications of the health systems approach for pandemic preparedness and responses, and offers potential suggestions for the Japan Institute for Health Security (JIHS) to consider adopting in its activities for pandemic policies and health systems. The paper examines actions for health system strengthening that have important implications for pandemic preparedness and responses in five areas of policy intervention (according to the book Getting Health Reform Right: A Guide to Improving Performance and Equity): i) financing, how funds are mobilized, placed in risk pools, and allocated in a health system; ii) payment, how different actors and institutions in a health system are paid; iii) organization, how a health system is organized and managed; iv) regulation, how government rules are used to change the actions of both private and public institutions; and v) persuasion, how information and targeted interventions are used to change the choices and behaviors of specific actors in a health system. The commentary also makes four tentative suggestions for JIHS: mobilize expertise in all health system areas, develop a new unit for health system analysis, establish global relevance, and merge the two organizations effectively.