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The Covid‐19 pandemic reinforces the need for sustainable health planning
Author(s) -
Garcia Ana Cristina,
Beja André,
Cupertino de Barros Fernando Passos,
Delgado António Pedro,
Ferrinho Paulo
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
the international journal of health planning and management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.672
H-Index - 41
eISSN - 1099-1751
pISSN - 0749-6753
DOI - 10.1002/hpm.3389
Subject(s) - sustainable development , participatory planning , pandemic , context (archaeology) , political science , relevance (law) , public health , public relations , environmental planning , covid-19 , economic growth , medicine , geography , nursing , economics , disease , archaeology , pathology , infectious disease (medical specialty) , law
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development highlighted the growing attention to the adequacy of health planning models to sustainable development. A re‐reading of the results of a round table debate on “sustainable planning”, which took place at the 5th National Congress of Tropical Medicine (Portugal, 2019) under a participant observation strategy, framed by the findings of a “synthesis of better evidence” literature review and cross–referenced with the reflections of different authors and experts about the momentum created by the COVID–19 pandemic, underlined the challenges to sustainable health planning that have emerged and are projected beyond the current pandemic context. Variable perceptions of the term “sustainable health development”, leading to the potential loss of their relevance in guiding the elaboration of policies and strategic plans, and the potential higher effectiveness of the participatory approaches of health planning in achieving sustainable health were highlighted in the debate and literature, in general and in public health emergency contexts. Those results gained new relevance during the current COVID–19 pandemic, bringing back to the forefront a reflection of the inadequate planning framework that has usually been used to understand and respond to global health challenges, despite the already existing experience, evidence and support instruments.