Measuring Health Systems Resilience: A Comparative Study of Turkey's Health System During COVID-19 Pandemic

The recent outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has drawn significant attention to the topic of health-system resilience. Many countries have taken certain measures to deal with the negative outcomes of the pandemic and to improve their health systems. Having a resilient health system during pandemics ensures the continuity and success of healthcare services. Resilience, as a concept, represents a proactive rather than a reactive approach to overcoming the negative outcomes of disasters. Understanding the characteristics of a resilient health system will help to strengthen the health systems for future pandemics or any other disasters. In this research project, characteristics of resilient health systems are investigated using a framework based on three main dimensions of systems resilience: (1) a system's capability to decrease its level of vulnerability to expected and unexpected disruptive events, (2) its ability to change itself and adapt to the changing environment; (3) its ability to recover in the least possible time in case of a disruptive event. Based on this framework, four attributes of resilience are identified, namely agility, adaptability, flexibility, and vulnerability. Further, these attributes of resilience are evaluated using country-specific COVID-19-related qualitative and quantitative data from Turkey and compared with several other countries. Suggestions and further recommendations are provided on how to measure and improve the resiliency of health systems for future pandemics.