Learning from economic downturns

How do economic downturns affect the health sector? And what can health policy makers do to respond to the challenges posed by volatile economies? Learning from Economic Downturns: How to Better Assess, Track, and Mitigate the Impact on the Health Sector addresses these and other questions. It proposes a more effective role for the health sector in the face of economic uncertainty to better protect population health and provide a safety net during a crisis. Despite increasingly volatile global economic cycles, there have been limited efforts to gather systematic evidence and develop policy frameworks that would guide decision makers seeking to ensure the health sector's resilience in difficult economic times. Learning from Economic Downturns raises awareness of the challenges that health systems in both developing and developed countries face and discusses how they can be addressed. The book provides an assessment, tracking, and mitigation (A.T.M.) framework with which governments and policy makers can better prepare to meet the challenge of health sector stabilisation. The framework proposes that in order to be effective, governments and policy makers must possess or develop: (i) Tools to assess the vulnerability of the health sector to a potential economic crisis; (ii) Approaches to help track the impact on the health sector of an economic downturn as it unfolds; (iii) The ability to implement effective policies to mitigate the impact on health when a crisis does occur. The A.T.M. framework emphasizes the interdependence of the three pillars when seeking to respond effectively to a crisis and strengthen health system resilience. Although links between health and the overall economy over the long term are increasingly understood and appreciated, the impact on health of a sudden economic downturn is still not well explained. Learning from Economic Downturns seeks to fill this gap by building on the lessons of the most recent global financial crisis with a view to establishing a more effective role for the health sector.