Strategy for Building Resilient Health Systems and Post-COVID-19 Pandemic Recovery to Sustain and Protect Public Health Gains

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted health, lives, and livelihoods in the Americas and has caused a social and economic crisis characterized by mass unemployment, increased impoverishment, and exacerbation of longstanding inequities. The critical path to recovery and progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals requires intensified actions to control the pandemic; adequate management of persons with COVID-19, including a) the post COVID-19 condition experienced by some individuals; the rapid and equitable deployment of COVID-19 vaccines; and the mitigation of disruptions in the provision and availability of essential health services to protect health gains. A progressive transition from pandemic response to recovery will require a renewed focus on building sustainable, resilient health systems, informed by and building on the COVID-19 response.