From the outset, let me declare we are #energy and #sustainability specialists and have no direct link to #Public #Health which is a specialty in its own right. However, as consultants, we do look at how #systems perform and the #strategic outlook for such a system based on its history and data trajectory.
Public Health has developed over the centuries with the greatest advances occurring over the last 100 or so years. Various public health #models exist and of course the World Health Organization (#WHO) is considered to be a world leader in advice on public health matters. There also exists a number of organizations (both public and private funded) that provide sterling care to citizenry around the world.
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The outbreak of #COVID-19 is putting a severe strain on public health systems around the world and our question here to be examined is if the systems will be stronger after being put through these tough times?
Based on the level of funding in the trillions spent to help with job losses etc., would a higher spend in terms of #preventative medicine and public health sector #reform and availability have been cheaper and less painful?
There are numbers thrown around that up to 10% of GDP should be spent on the public health sector https://www.who.int/health_financing/documents/health-expenditure-report-2019.pdf?ua=1 but these numbers do not look accurately at recurrent staff costs, training and capital spend. Then there is the matter of private sector hospitals versus public sector hospitals in how they are integrated at a time of public emergencies based on societies structure and inequality. Can the #pandemic lead us to re-examine the way we approach public health?
The conversation continues http://www.rdjconsulting.co.za