Reimagining health systems as systems for health

While health systems are fundamental to creating health and wellbeing, the covid-19 pandemic has exposed an outdated view of health systems. The boundaries of health systems are rapidly evolving and expanding. Social media and digital innovations are revolutionizing how governments and the private sector engage people and communities. They are also revolutionizing people’s and communities’ interaction and engagement with health systems.1 Yet current thinking on health systems remains focused on access to medical services and financial protection, key metrics for measuring universal health coverage (UHC), but insufficient to capture the determinants of health. The ongoing covid-19 pandemic has focused global attention on services that are needed to ensure and sustain health. This presents an opportunity. We can envision how health systems can move beyond being concentrated on treating illness. While continuing to provide health treatment services, health systems must be reimagined as “systems for health” by ensuring health security and encouraging healthy populations.

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Marten, R., Z. C. Shroff, K. Hanson, S. Davies, K. S. Reddy, J. Vega, D. H. Peters, A. Ghaffar (2022). Reimagining health systems as systems for health. BMJ 2022;379:o3025. doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.o3025