Health Services Trade and the COVID-19 Pandemic
The COVID-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic has overwhelmed the capacity of some domestic healthcare systems, highlighting the need to allow scarce healthcare resources to move, including across borders, to where outbreaks emerge and are worse. Digital tec...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Policy Note |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2020
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/804331588657997511/Health-Services-Trade-and-the-COVID-19-Pandemic http://hdl.handle.net/10986/33716 |
| Summary: | The COVID-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic has
overwhelmed the capacity of some domestic healthcare
systems, highlighting the need to allow scarce healthcare
resources to move, including across borders, to where
outbreaks emerge and are worse. Digital technologies, data,
and cross-border e-health services like telemedicine have
become important support mechanisms in the response to the
pandemic. Allowing temporary movement of health
professionals can also help alleviate capacity constraints
on domestic health systems. In the short-term, countries can
adopt measures to help alleviate national shortages of
medical providers and facilitate the use of telemedicine in
response to the COVID 19 pandemic. These include: (i)
removing or lowering restrictions on the movement of
healthcare professionals across borders, even if
temporarily; and (ii) reducing barriers to telemedicine,
including allowing the use of insurance in foreign clinics.
Medium-term measures should focus on strengthening the
global health system and building resilience to future
crises. These include: (i) allowing foreign entry of
health-related suppliers in order to bring additional
resources, new technologies, and new management techniques;
(ii) increasing cross-border coordination and collaboration
between major research centers for disease prevention and
control; and (iii) improving digital connectivity in order
to provide better support for healthcare systems. |
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