Abstract
Health systems need to continue functioning and providing essential health services, even when they experience challenges that threaten their ability to do so. Resilience describes the ability for health systems to manage change when they are shocked, so that essential functions are maintained. The capacity to change ranges from absorbing the shock using existing resources to fundamentally reorganizing the system. Resilience is needed proactively to prepare and plan for shocks, during a shock to respond to the event, and to learn from a shock after it ends. Strengthening the whole system can help to build resilience, such as strengthening the ways that actors and groups in the system interact. Understanding the processes that support change in a system will help us understand how to build resilience.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Blanchet K, Nam SL, Ramalingam B, Pozo-Martin F. Governance and capacity to manage resilience of health systems: towards a new conceptual framework. Int J Health Policy Manag. 2017;6(8):431–5. https://doi.org/10.15171/ijhpm.2017.36.
Kruk ME, Myers M, Varpilah ST, Dahn BT. What is a resilient health system? Lessons from Ebola Lancet. 2015;385(9980):1910–2. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(15)60755-3.
Gilson L, Barasa E, Nxumalo N, Cleary S, Goudge J, Molyneux S, et al. Everyday resilience in district health systems: emerging insights from the front lines in Kenya and South Africa. BMJ Glob Health. 2017;2(2):e000224. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjgh-2016-000224.
Biddle L, Wahedi K, Bozorgmehr K. Health system resilience: a literature review of empirical research. Health Policy Plan. 2020;35(8):1084–109. https://doi.org/10.1093/heapol/czaa032.
Barasa E, Boga M, Kagwanja N, Kinyanjui S, Molyneux C, Nyikuri M, et al. Learning sites for health system governance in Kenya and South Africa: reflecting on our experience. Health Res Policy Syst. 2020;18(1):44. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12961-020-00552-6.
Haldane V, De Foo C, Abdalla SM, Jung AS, Tan M, Wu S, et al. Health systems resilience in managing the COVID-19 pandemic: lessons from 28 countries. Nat Med. 2021;27(6):964–80. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-021-01381-y.
Hanefeld J, Mayhew S, Legido-Quigley H, Martineau F, Karanikolos M, Blanchet K, et al. Towards an understanding of resilience: responding to health systems shocks. Health Policy Plan. 2018;33(3):355–67. https://doi.org/10.1093/heapol/czx183.
Sheikh K, Gilson L, Agyepong IA, Hanson K, Ssengooba F, Bennett S. Building the field of health policy and systems research: framing the questions. PLoS Med. 2011;8(8):e1001073. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001073.
European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies. Health systems resilience during COVID-19: lessons for building back better. Copenhagen: The European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies; 2021.
Saulnier DD, Blanchet K, Canila C, Cobos Muñoz D, Dal Zennaro L, de Savigny D, et al. A health systems resilience research agenda: moving from concept to practice. BMJ Glob Health. 2021;6(8):e006779. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjgh-2021-006779.
Thomas S, Sagan A, Larkin J, Cylus J, Figueras J, Karanikolos M. Strengthening health systems resilience: key concepts and strategies. Copenhagen: European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies; 2020.
Gooding K, Bertone M, Loffreda G, Witter S. Strengthening coordination for shock preparedness and response: lessons for health system resilience (working paper). Oxford: Oxford Policy Management; 2022.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Saulnier, D.D., Blanchet, K., Tediosi, F. (2023). Health Systems Resilience. In: Raviglione, M.C.B., Tediosi, F., Villa, S., Casamitjana, N., Plasència, A. (eds) Global Health Essentials. Sustainable Development Goals Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-33851-9_54
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-33851-9_54
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-031-33850-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-031-33851-9
eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)