COVID-19 in China: Responses, Challenges and Implications for the Health System
A public health crisis is a “touchstone” for testing the ability and capacity of a national health system. In the current era, public health crises are presenting new systematic and cross-border characteristics and uncertainty. The essence of a system for public health crisis governance is the rules...
| Main Authors: | , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2021-01-01
|
| Series: | Healthcare |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9032/9/1/82 |
| _version_ | 1797410851153510400 |
|---|---|
| author | Cunhai Xing Ruilian Zhang |
| author_facet | Cunhai Xing Ruilian Zhang |
| author_sort | Cunhai Xing |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | A public health crisis is a “touchstone” for testing the ability and capacity of a national health system. In the current era, public health crises are presenting new systematic and cross-border characteristics and uncertainty. The essence of a system for public health crisis governance is the rules administering the stimulus–response chain. The health system generally emphasizes joint participation and communication between different subjects, which may lead to overlap and redundancy as well as a lack of auxiliary support for major public health crisis events. In the context of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in China, we track the responses, challenges, and implications of the temporary disruption of the health system and its response to this major public health crisis. We examine local governance capacity, performance in pandemic control, and the coordinated responses to COVID-19. Accordingly, we identify the challenges to the health system, including the imbalance in attention given to medical care versus health care, insufficient grassroots public health efforts and control capacity, and untimely information disclosure. It is strongly suggested that the government improve its cognitive ability and focus more attention on building and strengthening the emergency health system. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T04:36:14Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-ca6065b57c774dc49d968b449fda5819 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2227-9032 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T04:36:14Z |
| publishDate | 2021-01-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Healthcare |
| spelling | doaj.art-ca6065b57c774dc49d968b449fda58192023-12-03T13:27:55ZengMDPI AGHealthcare2227-90322021-01-01918210.3390/healthcare9010082COVID-19 in China: Responses, Challenges and Implications for the Health SystemCunhai Xing0Ruilian Zhang1School of Marxism, Hohai University, Nanjing 211100, ChinaSustainable Minerals Institute, The University of Queensland, Brisbane 4072, AustraliaA public health crisis is a “touchstone” for testing the ability and capacity of a national health system. In the current era, public health crises are presenting new systematic and cross-border characteristics and uncertainty. The essence of a system for public health crisis governance is the rules administering the stimulus–response chain. The health system generally emphasizes joint participation and communication between different subjects, which may lead to overlap and redundancy as well as a lack of auxiliary support for major public health crisis events. In the context of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in China, we track the responses, challenges, and implications of the temporary disruption of the health system and its response to this major public health crisis. We examine local governance capacity, performance in pandemic control, and the coordinated responses to COVID-19. Accordingly, we identify the challenges to the health system, including the imbalance in attention given to medical care versus health care, insufficient grassroots public health efforts and control capacity, and untimely information disclosure. It is strongly suggested that the government improve its cognitive ability and focus more attention on building and strengthening the emergency health system.https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9032/9/1/82public health crisishealth systemchallengesCOVID-19 |
| spellingShingle | Cunhai Xing Ruilian Zhang COVID-19 in China: Responses, Challenges and Implications for the Health System Healthcare public health crisis health system challenges COVID-19 |
| title | COVID-19 in China: Responses, Challenges and Implications for the Health System |
| title_full | COVID-19 in China: Responses, Challenges and Implications for the Health System |
| title_fullStr | COVID-19 in China: Responses, Challenges and Implications for the Health System |
| title_full_unstemmed | COVID-19 in China: Responses, Challenges and Implications for the Health System |
| title_short | COVID-19 in China: Responses, Challenges and Implications for the Health System |
| title_sort | covid 19 in china responses challenges and implications for the health system |
| topic | public health crisis health system challenges COVID-19 |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9032/9/1/82 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT cunhaixing covid19inchinaresponseschallengesandimplicationsforthehealthsystem AT ruilianzhang covid19inchinaresponseschallengesandimplicationsforthehealthsystem |