The impact of Covid-19 in the Pacific has highlighted the inter-dependence of health security and health systems, and the need to improve resilience.
A new report aims to identify and prioritise health system strengthening initiatives in the Pacific.
Professor Sheel spoke to Don Wiseman on Pacific Waves
One of the writers, University of Sydney Associate Professor Meru Sheel, said they identified steps that should be part of a ramping up of health support for Pacific countries.
Samoa Photo: A/Prof Meru Sheel
She said globally, covid disrupted services - be they vaccines, cancer treatment, or primary care.
"And the workforce is another one. How health care workers have coped. They have been pulled out of their routine essential services to respond to Covid-19. And that has put a lot of mental health strain on the workforce. There have been quantity issues, there have been quality and skills issues that have come up, and it's also meant that services that these health workers have been serving have also been disrupted," Sheel said.
An allied report "Investing in our future: Building strong and resilient health systems in the Indo-Pacific region" was also released this week.
Researchers at the University of New South Wales found efforts to strengthen health systems across the region need to focus on increasing equity in access, quality of care, and resource optimisation, and that without locally relevant initiatives that fit the context, such efforts are likely to fail.
Both reports had been initiated by the Australian Council for International Development.