Standardising policy and technology responses in the immediate aftermath of a pandemic: a comparative and conceptual framework

Health Research Policy and Systems

Research

Gianluca Fiorentini¹  Naomi Moy²  Francesco Paolucci³  Marcello Antonini⁴  Mattias Kyhlstedt⁵ 

[1] Department of Economics, University of Bologna, Piazza Scaravilli 2, 40126, Bologna, Italy;Department of Sociology and Business Law, University of Bologna, Strada Maggiore 45, 40126, Bologna, Italy;Centre for Behavioural Economics, Society and Technology, Queensland University of Technology, 2 George Street, 4000, Brisbane, QLD, Australia;Department of Sociology and Business Law, University of Bologna, Strada Maggiore 45, 40126, Bologna, Italy;Newcastle Business School, University of Newcastle, Hunter St &, Auckland St, 2300, Newcastle, NSW, Australia;School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Newcastle, University Dr, 2308, Callaghan, NSW, Australia;Synergus RWE, Stationsvägen 18, 184 50, Åkersberga, Sweden;

关键词: COVID-19;    Health research systems;    Policy categorisation;    Public health crisis;    Policy gradient;    Policy interventions;    Health outcomes;    Economic outcomes;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12961-022-00951-x

 received in 2022-03-11, accepted in 2022-12-17,  发布年份 2022

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundThe initial policy response to the COVID-19 pandemic has differed widely across countries. Such variability in government interventions has made it difficult for policymakers and health research systems to compare what has happened and the effectiveness of interventions across nations. Timely information and analysis are crucial to addressing the lag between the pandemic and government responses to implement targeted interventions to alleviate the impact of the pandemic.MethodsTo examine the effect government interventions and technological responses have on epidemiological and economic outcomes, this policy paper proposes a conceptual framework that provides a qualitative taxonomy of government policy directives implemented in the immediate aftermath of a pandemic announcement and before vaccines are implementable. This framework assigns a gradient indicating the intensity and extent of the policy measures and applies the gradient to four countries that share similar institutional features but different COVID-19 experiences: Italy, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States of America.ResultsUsing the categorisation framework allows qualitative information to be presented, and more specifically the gradient can show the dynamic impact of policy interventions on specific outcomes. We have observed that the policy categorisation described here can be used by decision-makers to examine the impacts of major viral outbreaks such as SARS-CoV-2 on health and economic outcomes over time. The framework allows for a visualisation of the frequency and comparison of dominant policies and provides a conceptual tool to assess how dominant interventions (and innovations) affect different sets of health and non-health related outcomes during the response phase to the pandemic.ConclusionsPolicymakers and health researchers should converge toward an optimal set of policy interventions to minimize the costs of the pandemic (i.e., health and economic), and facilitate coordination across governance levels before effective vaccines are produced. The proposed framework provides a useful tool to direct health research system resources and build a policy benchmark for future viral outbreaks where vaccines are not readily available.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© The Author(s) 2023

【 图 表 】

Fig. 2

41116_2022_35_Article_IEq222.gif

41116_2022_35_Article_IEq213.gif