COVID-19 Pandemic and the Crucial Role of Health System Preparedness

The COVID-19 pandemic is a global health and economic crisis of a scale never witnessed before. Beginning in China, it has within a few months devastated many countries across the globe, requiring an unprecedented mobilization of health systems. The pandemic is yet another reminder that we need to ramp up national capacities to detect a disease early and respond rapidly, strengthen national institutions and rely on evidence base for policymaking. It is high time that we paid heed to these lessons and be ready for future imminent epidemics and pandemics.