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 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.

Automated summary

A public health crisis serves as a test for the ability and capacity of a national health system, and effective governance systems with rules governing the stimulus-response chain are essential. Challenges faced in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic in China include imbalances in healthcare attention, inadequate grassroots public health efforts, and untimely information disclosure. To address these challenges, the government is urged to enhance cognitive abilities and focus on strengthening the emergency health system.