Building health system capacity for improved access to healthcare

In recent years, the global health landscape has encountered unprecedented challenges, highlighting the critical need for robust health system resilience and capacity. But what does "health system capacity" truly entail? At its core, health system capacity encompasses the infrastructure, personnel, resources, and capabilities necessary to deliver timely healthcare services effectively and efficiently to a population. It's about ensuring that health systems can meet current and future health demands, maintain standards of patient care, and respond to emergencies and health crises.

The challenge facing health systems

The causes of limited health system capacity are multifaceted, deeply rooted in both economic and social disparities and systemic inefficiencies. Firstly, financial constraints significantly impact the ability of both, low- and middle-income and high-income countries to invest in healthcare infrastructure, systems and technologies. Additionally, there's a chronic shortage in the healthcare workforce. Health systems can only function with health workers; improving health service coverage and recognizing the attainment of the highest standard of health is dependent on their availability, accessibility, acceptability, and quality. The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates a projected shortfall of ten million health workers by 2030, mostly in low- and lower-middle income countries. However, countries at all levels of socioeconomic development face, to varying degrees, difficulties in the education, employment, deployment, retention, and performance of their healthcare workforce.?This is further exacerbated by a lack of innovation in healthcare delivery models, which are oftentimes outdated and inefficient, leading to accessibility and quality of care issues.

Strategies for health system capacity building

Addressing the growing challenge of health system capacity, requires scalable and sustainable innovation, co-designed in partnership with patients and service users, healthcare professionals, policymakers and industry experts. Here is how:

Develop New Models of Care

Health systems are increasingly focusing on shifting the focus from hospital-centered care to community-based and primary care models. These models emphasize preventive care, chronic disease management, and the integration of services, which can alleviate the burden on secondary and tertiary facilities. For instance, community health navigators can play a pivotal role in delivering primary healthcare services, thus bridging the gap in access to care. Best practices in new models of care are evident within and across various health systems and industries worldwide - we must rapidly learn, share, and scale them up.

Redesign care pathways through service improvement

Streamlining care pathways through better coordination and integration of services can significantly enhance system efficiency and patient outcomes. This requires a patient-centric approach, optimizing the use of healthcare resources including technology, and removing bottlenecks in service delivery. For example, implementing and further enhancing multidisciplinary teams that work collaboratively across different care settings can improve the continuity and quality of care for patients with complex needs.

Leverage AI and Digital Solutions

Notwithstanding the implementation challenges relating to the adoption and uptake technology in healthcare, the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) and digital health technologies provides a significant opportunity to address capacity issues head-on. AI does more than just solve problems—it redefines them, and in the field of healthcare it is helping to craft solutions to problems we hadn’t even imagined. AI can assist in diagnosing diseases more quickly and accurately, optimizing treatment plans, and predicting healthcare needs, which can lead to better allocation of resources. In addition, digital health platforms can improve access to care through telemedicine, digital health records, and mobile health applications, facilitating better patient engagement and self-management of health conditions.

Collective action and innovation as a path forward

Addressing health system capacity is not a one-size-fits-all; it requires a multi-faceted approach, tailored to the specific context of each health system across both low-middle income and high income countries. It requires a strong commitment from governments, healthcare system decision-makers, and international bodies to invest in health system reform, infrastructure, workforce, education, and technologies. By embracing strategies such as new models of care, redesigning care pathways, and leveraging AI and digital solutions, together we can transform our health systems to be more resilient, efficient, and accessible to all.

Closing the gap in health system capacity is not just a matter of health system and policy reform; it's a global imperative that calls for collective action and innovation.

Views shared in this article are my personal reflections, and do not represent my current employer.