Policy responses to Covid-19

The COVID-19 pandemic created unprecedented challenges for countries and health systems in the European Region and around the world. When the crisis unfolded, the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies worked to document, analyse and compare how countries responded to the COVID-19 crisis, both within their health systems and through wider public health initiatives. 

 The Observatory took a structured approach to understanding COVID-19 policy responses, building on the Health Systems in Transition (HiT) report template and on work on Health Systems Performance Assessment. Country-specific information was routinely collected and organised around the main functions of health systems. Where possible, this information was linked to health system performance dimensions, including health system resilience, in an effort to identify best practices.

 Key COVID-19 resources from the Observatory include the COVID-19 Health System Response Monitor. Now converted into an Archive of country evidence, the Monitor contains detailed information on policy responses for each country  in the WHO European Region; COVID-19 Cross-country Analysis,  which contain snapshots that address key policy questions through cross-country comparisons; a series of COVID-19 webinars between 2020 and 2022, a special COVID-19 edition of Eurohealth, as well as policy briefs and other research.