Are Europe’s public health systems ready for the next crisis?

Has Europe learned the lessons of the pandemic? COVID-19 placed frontline workers under intense pressure, and highlighted the hard limits that staff numbers can place on healthcare capacity. Recruiting and retaining a motivated and valued healthcare workforce will be key in building resilience for future crises.

Meanwhile, the pandemic exposed supply chain issues for medical equipment (including ventilators), vaccines, and PPE, as well as hinting at some of the opportunities afforded by new technologies (such as remote consultations). How can EU Member States build more resilient health systems, incorporating smart investment and digitalisation to boost public health?

We put some of YOUR questions on this topic to a panel of experts:

•  Ingrid Keller, Head of Unit, Health Security, EU Commission
•  Agata Jakoncic, Managing Director, MSD Greece, Cyprus & Malta

Are Europe’s public health systems ready for the next crisis? Have the right lessons been learned? Are health workers exhausted and burned-out after the pandemic? How can we ensure technological innovation in healthcare won’t be just cost-saving measures and will genuinely improve quality of care? Would more resilient European healthcare systems need shorter medical supply chains? Let us know your thoughts and comments in the form below and we’ll take them to policymakers and experts for their reactions!

Image by Drazen Zigic on Freepik

Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Commission. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.