Health Systems’ Challenges and Responses for Recovery in the Pre and Post COVID-19 Era

COVID-19 has been an unprecedented global crisis and health systems have put tremendous efforts to withstand the pandemic. It has brought new challenges by deeply impacting both the economies and the healthcare systems. This paper aims to provide an overview of the challenges and responses COVID-19 brought to the EU health systems and grasp investment opportunities which intend to improve their resilience, accessibility, effectiveness and sustainability. A review of policies and actions related to health systems’ challenges and responses considered as opportunities are presented and discussed. The key challenges are boosting the way towards optimising health systems’ capacity, ensuring access to healthcare, promoting R&D focused on the accelerated development of diagnostics, treatments and vaccines, improving health data digitalization as well as monitoring individual behaviour along with the socioeconomic impact. Numerous health policy recommendations, synergies and funding initiatives have been launched as responses to these challenges. EU is constantly obtaining lessons from the pandemic with coordination being the key component for response and for building in opportunities that will strengthen health systems’ preparedness and management of cross-border health threats. Governments need to ensure that the health systems are equipped with the critical capacities to promptly respond to future health crises.