Early health system responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in Mediterranean countries: A tale of successes and challenges

Ruth Waitzberg, Cristina Hernández-Quevedo (), Enrique Bernal-Delgado, Francisco Estupiñán-Romero, Ester Angulo-Pueyo, Mamas Theodorou, Marios Kantaris, Chrystala Charalambous, Elena Gabriel, Charalampos Economou, Daphne Kaitelidou, Olympia Konstantakopoulou, Lilian Venetia Vildiridi, Amit Meshulam, Antonio Giulio de Belvis, Alisha Morsella, Alexia Bezzina, Karen Vincenti, Gonçalo Figueiredo Augusto, Inês Fronteira, Jorge Simões, Marina Karanikolos, Gemma Williams and Anna Maresso

Health Policy, 2022, vol. 126, issue 5, 465-475

Abstract: This paper conducts a comparative review of the (curative) health systems’ response taken by Cyprus, Greece, Israel, Italy, Malta, Portugal, and Spain during the first six months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, these Mediterranean countries shared similarities in terms of health system resources, which were low compared to the EU/OECD average. We distill key policy insights regarding the governance tools adopted to manage the pandemic, the means to secure sufficient physical infrastructure and workforce capacity and some financing and coverage aspects.

Keywords: COVID-19; health system responses; governance; Mediterranean countries (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:hepoli:v:126:y:2022:i:5:p:465-475

DOI: 10.1016/j.healthpol.2021.10.007

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