A look at the global healthcare landscape indicates how the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the weaknesses that exist in present-day health systems. It is clear that sustainable health remains a goal that is far from being achieved, what with quality of healthcare and equitable care being a common challenge for countries irrespective of their economic development.
The World Health Organization (WHO) had developed a framework in 2016 outlining key strategies that contribute to a fundamental transformation of healthcare and help countries in developing people-centric, sustainable health systems. These include engaging and empowering communities in building an integrated care system, strengthening governance and accountability, reorientation of care prioritising people’s needs, integrating inter-disciplinary medical care with social care, and most importantly creating an enabling environment that paves way for a transformational change. Interestingly, these guiding principles continue to be highly relevant in the aftermath of the pandemic-led crisis.
According to a WHO study, global healthcare spending is expected to be around US$8.7 trillion by end of 2020 with Asia-Pacific contributing to US$2 trillion indicating the highest annual growth rate from 2015. As high-quality universal health coverage gains paramount importance, it is critical to strengthen health systems by improving agility and building reserve capacity. The pandemic will further spur the growth of digitisation in healthcare, as we witnessed many countries willing to or making use of medical technology and digital platforms to deal with the health emergency. A study by Roland Berger suggests that digital products and services could contribute to 12 per cent of overall healthcare spending by 2025.
Experts from the Global Future Council on Health and Healthcare, an initiative of the World Economic Forum, have recently come up with a series of stories that throw light on the importance of and the need to build sustainable, patient-centric health systems that are more resilient to improve the quality of global population health. In the post-pandemic era, we can expect to see healthcare organisations focus their efforts into improving efficiency through resource optimisation and reducing costs to develop sustainable health systems that provide high-quality care with better patient outcomes.
In 2006, it all started with the idea of launching Asian Hospital & Healthcare Management (AHHM) a healthcare publication that offered reliable and accurate coverage of the sector by covering issues, trends, and technologies shaping the healthcare industry. We launched AHHM as a bi-annual print publication—meant for key decision makers and influencers—that carried out insightful analysis and topical articles from industry leaders, academicians and sector thought leaders. The magazine generated huge interest in readership and circulation pushing the need to making it a quarterly publication by 2008, with both physical and digital versions available for the readers then on.
It gives me immense pleasure to share with you the landmark 50th issue of this magazine. On behalf of the entire publication team, I take this opportunity to thank the authors, advisory board, clients and partners who have extended their unwavering support in our journey so far. We will continue to deliver the most insightful and relevant content to serve your information needs and help you stay ahead of competition.
