Reflections from Cameroon
TDDA technical expert Professor Omer Njajou has contributed his insights to this reflections note on Thinking and Working Politically on Health System Resilience, published by The Policy Practice in June 2022.
COVID-19 tested the resilience of health systems across the world. By resilience, the author of this note refers to the capacity of health systems to prepare for, respond to, cope with, recover from, and adapt to shocks such as a pandemic, while also maintaining their routine functions.
Omer was invited to share with the author his analysis of Cameroon’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. They looked as issues such as: political leadership; trust; centralizations vs decentralization; the extent to which existing plans were followed; and, the role of international support. These factors were compared with experiences in South Africa and Nepal in order to draw out potential lessons learned.
Long after the pandemic recedes, the issues raised will remain vital from a policy perspective to ensure countries everywhere are better prepared for future pandemics and health crises.