A new tool has been implemented to track responses to the COVID-19 pandemic across Europe which will help health systems tackle the crisis.
The COVID-19 Health System Response Monitor (HSRM) resource is a new online platform that has been launched by the WHO Regional Office for Europe, the European Commission and the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, to help countries and stakeholders in the WHO European Region tackle the crisis.
The tool aims to provide evidence of how national health systems are responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Informing crisis response
As cases of COVID-19 continue to rise in countries across the European Region, health systems are facing enormous pressure to both manage COVID-19 patients and maintain essential services. As these challenges grow, governments and policymakers are calling for clear and comparable health systems evidence to inform their policies and to strengthen their capacity to respond to this unprecedented crisis.
Dr Hans Henri Kluge, WHO Regional Director for Europe, said: “This tool is a breakthrough resource for health systems decision-makers tackling the pandemic.
“By mapping and analysing country narratives on response and providing essential data and evidence on COVID-19, the platform will be of real value to those who are responding to the crisis across the Region and seeking to mitigate its far-reaching consequences.”
The new website will be systematically mapping and analysing health system responses to the pandemic across the Region.
Being launched as a pilot with selected country data, the COVID-19 Health System Response Monitor (HSRM) resource will be updated regularly with information from all countries in the Region. It will offer cross-country comparisons for analyses of the measures being taken by national authorities and will also track wider public health initiatives.
Some of analysis undertaken by the HSRM include how COVID-19 testing criteria differ across countries, how countries are creating extra bed and ICU capacity and how countries are keeping the rest of their health systems operating.
