Strengthening health system resilience : what role for migrants and migration policies?

Abstract

Catastrophic events occurring over the last decade or so have highlighted the need to understand how to govern health systems in the face of shocks. In high-income countries this was triggered by the economic crisis from 2008 and in low and middle-income countries by the sudden outbreaks of infectious diseases, like Ebola, as well as civil conflicts, with catastrophic consequences (Barasa, Mbau et al. 2018). Most recently, the emergence and rapid spread of COVID-19 has severely tested almost all health systems around the world (Bozorgmehr, Saint et al. 2020). National responses have varied greatly, with some countries being more successful than others in containing the transmission and preventing deaths. Nevertheless, health systems in many countries have found themselves struggling to cope with the exponentially accelerating number of cases through different waves, while health systems in other countries have also come under enormous pressure (Sagan, Thomas et al. 2020).