This is, in part, because of context and systems factors including a country’s previous experience with epidemics, its health system strength and structure, and the onset of SARS-CoV-2 in-country. These and other factors helped shape each country’s COVID-19 response, as well as its ability to continue delivering EHS in the first two years of the pandemic. However, these context and system factors cannot be easily changed during the onset of an infectious disease outbreak, and as a result this cross-country synthesis primarily focuses on the interventions countries implemented in response to COVID-19. A full list of cross-cutting interventions (called “promising practices”) that all or most countries implemented can be found in the table below. Click on the blue cells of the table to see examples of the promising practices in each country.
Cross-Country Promising Practices
This section describes two key cross-cutting patient-level measures that all or most of the six countries implemented in some form. These interventions were widely available, and they supported community well-being as well as individual health. More important, they represent new and adapted ways of meeting the novel patient needs the COVID-19 pandemic caused.