Health systems give 1st 'major sign of recovery' since COVID-19 outbreak: WHO

By Beyza Binnur Donmez

GENEVA (AA) – Health systems around the world have given the first "major sign of recovery" after three years of the COVID-19 pandemic, a World Health Organization (WHO) official said on Tuesday.

Presenting the results of WHO's fourth global pulse survey on the continuity of essential health services during the COVID-19 pandemic, Rudi Eggers told a UN briefing that by early 2023, countries had reported experiencing reduced disruptions in the delivery of routine health services.

"It is welcome news that health systems in the majority of countries are starting to restore essential health services for millions of people who missed them during the pandemic," said Eggers, the director of Integrated Health Services at WHO.

"But we need to ensure that all countries continue to close this gap to recover health services, and apply lessons learned to build more prepared and resilient health systems for the future," he added.

The countries that responded to the survey reported continued disruptions in almost one-quarter of services on average, according to the survey. In 84 countries where trend analysis is possible, the percentage of disrupted services declined on average from 56% in July-September 2020 to 23% in November 2022-January 2023.

Another important step towards system recovery and transition, he said, was that most of the countries had made progress in integrating COVID-19 services into routine health service delivery.

Most of the 139 countries that responded to the survey had also begun to put what they had learned during the COVID-19 pandemic into practice, including the incorporation of a number of innovative service disruption mitigation strategies into routine healthcare delivery, he added.