Electronic Resource
Early health system responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in Mediterranean countries: A tale of successes and challenges
| العنوان: | Early health system responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in Mediterranean countries: A tale of successes and challenges |
|---|---|
| المؤلفون: | Waitzberg, R., Hernandez-Quevedo, C., Bernal-Delgado, E., Estupinan-Romero, F., Angulo-Pueyo, E., Theodorou, M., Kantaris, M., Charalambous, C., Gabriel, E., Economou, C., Kaitelidou, D., Konstantakopoulou, O., Vildiridi, L. V., Meshulam, A., De Belvis, Antonio, Morsella, Alisha, Bezzina, A., Vincenti, K., Figueiredo Augusto, G., Fronteira, I., Simoes, J., Karanikolos, M., Williams, G., Maresso, A., de Belvis A. (ORCID:0000-0003-4456-1937), Morsella A. |
| بيانات النشر: | Elsevier Ireland Ltd 2021 |
| نوع الوثيقة: | Electronic Resource |
| مستخلص: | This paper conducts a comparative review of the (curative) health systems’ response taken by Cyprus, Greece, Israel, Italy, Malta, Portugal, and Spain during the first six months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, these Mediterranean countries shared similarities in terms of health system resources, which were low compared to the EU/OECD average. We distill key policy insights regarding the governance tools adopted to manage the pandemic, the means to secure sufficient physical infrastructure and workforce capacity and some financing and coverage aspects. We performed a qualitative analysis of the evidence reported to the ‘Health System Response Monitor’ platform of the European Observatory by country experts. We found that governance in the early stages of the pandemic was undertaken centrally in all the Mediterranean countries, even in Italy and Spain where regional authorities usually have autonomy over health matters. Stretched public resources prompted countries to deploy “flexible” intensive care unit capacity and health workforce resources as agile solutions. The private sector was also utilized to expand resources and health workforce capacity, through special public-private partnerships. Countries ensured universal coverage for COVID-19-related services, even for groups not usually entitled to free publicly financed health care, such as undocumented migrants. We conclude that flexibility, speed and adaptive management in health policy responses were key to responding to immediate needs during the COVID-19 pandemic. Financial barriers to accessing care as well as potentially higher mortality rates were avoided in most of the countries during the first wave. Yet it is still early to assess to what extent countries were able to maintain essential services without undermining equitable access to high quality care. |
| مصطلحات الفهرس: | COVID-19, governance, health system responses, Mediterranean countries, Settore MED/42 - IGIENE GENERALE E APPLICATA, info:eu-repo/semantics/article |
| URL: | info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/pmid/34711444 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/wos/WOS:000814021500015 issue:12 firstpage:N/A lastpage:N/A issueyear:2021 journal:HEALTH POLICY |
| الاتاحة: | Open access content. Open access content |
| ملاحظة: | English |
| Other Numbers: | SYC oai:publicatt.unicatt.it:10807/192809 10.1016/j.healthpol.2021.10.007 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/scopus/2-s2.0-85128497576 1330708571 |
| المصدر المساهم: | UNIV CATTOLICA DEL SACRO CUORE From OAIster®, provided by the OCLC Cooperative. |
| رقم الانضمام: | edsoai.on1330708571 |
| قاعدة البيانات: | OAIster |
| الوصف غير متاح. |