[Expert Talk] The importance of a well-functioning healthcare system with Yemisi Ajumobi from the World Bank

Today’s guest is Yemisi, an epidemiologist specialising in infectious disease at the World Bank. We began our conversation by giving an overview of the virus causing Covid-19, what we knew and what remains to be learnt; we discussed the intricate balance between country priorities and global coordination needed to prevent and respond to a global pandemics like Covid-19; the six building blocks of a well-functioning healthcare system, and the progress made on the global coordination efforts on vaccination and lastly the one thing that we hope governments around the world can learn from the current crisis.

Key highlights from our conversation

Corona viruses are very common in animals. Research has currently estimated that there are over 1,100 Corona viruses that currently exist in animals. Specifically, with regards to human coronaviruses, these were first identified in the 1960s. And to date, there are about seven corona viruses that can infect humans, which have been identified.

The risk of pandemics has been reported to be increasing in the recent decades. Some of the reasons for these increases has been the large rates of urbanization and industrialization, which has led to the disruption of ecosystem humans coming in close contact with wildlife habitat.

The WHO health systems framework encompasses six building blocks 1) service delivery 2) health workforce 3) health information systems 4) access to essential medicines 5) financing 6) leadership / governance.

International Health Regulation 2005 is a legally binding document that countries follow to ensure that they're improving their core public health capacities to be able to adequately prepare, detect, and respond to infectious disease outbreaks.

Healthcare is typically on the funder, and a big part of what has occurred is that there is more reactivity as opposed to proactivity; it means that it's when a crisis has emerged, is when there's a lot of focus on reacting to the crisis, instead of using a wider lens of thinking through how we can be more proactive at preventing and averting crisis.

Content at a glance with time-code

(01.38) Yemisi’s background story
(05.00) What we know about Covid-19 and what remains to be learnt
(09.03) Epidemics and pandemics defined
(10.05) Urbanization and industrialisation resulted in increased risks of pandemics in recent decades
(12.07) The delicate balance between country priorities and global coordination
(20.52) What it takes to shift from reactive to proactive mindset
(22.18) The development and global coordination efforts around vaccination
(25.38) The one thing that we should learn from the current crisis

Episode links
WHO Health Systems Framework: https://www.who.int/healthinfo/systems/WHO_MBHSS_2010_full_web.pdf

International Health Regulation 2005: https://www.who.int/ihr/publications/9789241596664/en/