The practice of drug emergency supply in China during the COVID-19 pandemic: A policy mix perspective

Zhang Jie-ying, Li Jun, Wang Xue-ya, Fan Rui-xue, Zhao Feng, Tang Yi, Zhang Jun-lin and Mao Ning-ying

PLOS ONE, 2025, vol. 20, issue 12, 1-26

Abstract: Background: Public health emergencies such as COVID-19 severely disrupt drug supply chains, creating sudden surges in demand, labor shortages, and regulatory challenges. Existing studies often focus on single supply chain stages, with limited systematic analysis of policy responses across the entire cycle. Objectives: This study aims to systematically analyze China's emergency drug supply policies by examining issuing agencies, developmental stages, policy tools, and supply chain links, to identify patterns, complementarities, and existing gaps. Methods: A total of 559 policy texts (110 national, 449 provincial) issued between December 2019 and February 2023 were collected. Content analysis and coding were conducted based on a four-dimensional framework. Social network analysis was applied to joint policy issuances to assess institutional collaboration and centrality. Results: National policies emphasized macro-level planning and dynamic adjustment: motivation and symbolic tools dominated in the burst stage, commands and regulations in the remission stage, and symbolic tools in later stages. Provincial policies relied more on rigid enforcement through commands and regulations, gradually shifting toward capacity-building in distribution and use. Finance, healthcare security, and regulatory agencies emerged as network hubs, while the distribution stage received the most policy support. Raw material supply was largely overlooked. Conclusions: National and provincial policies demonstrated complementary functions—national policies providing strategic direction and provincial policies ensuring operational enforcement. However, imbalances in policy tool use, weak shortage monitoring, and insufficient human resource policies remain. Future research should incorporate municipal-level measures, field-based evaluations, and international comparisons to optimize China's emergency drug supply governance.

Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0337700 (text/html)
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id= ... 37700&type=printable (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:plo:pone00:0337700

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0337700

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in PLOS ONE from Public Library of Science
Bibliographic data for series maintained by plosone ().