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Health Systems after COVID-19 – charting a course for a healthier Europe

The COVID-19 crisis has put the resilience and agility of European health systems to the test in an unprecedented way, and cast a light on their strengths as well as weaknesses. As we are moving into the next phase in the fight against COVID-19, with the roll-out of vaccines gaining pace in many countries and allowing for more concerted reflection about the future beyond the pandemic, we need to start discussing what this crisis has taught us so far about the state of European health systems and European health collaboration, and what could be done better or differently in the future. EFPIA believes that once we emerge from this crisis, we should not only rebuild our economies and get our societies back on their feet, but also take the opportunity to implement an ambitious reform agenda for European health systems. Going back to the pre-pandemic status quo would not be an appropriate or realistic option.

To frame this important debate, EFPIA has developed this report together with PwC as a result of extensive interviews and discussions with stakeholders across health systems. It identifies a number of areas in which European health systems and stakeholders need to strengthen or develop new ways of working to improve their resilience to future crises and better serve their populations.

The pharmaceutical industry has had a paramount role in combatting the pandemic, through leveraging years of investment in vaccine and therapeutic technology platforms, immediate initiation of clinical development programs building on our long experience and established networks, and rapid investments in scaling up manufacturing capacity in Europe and across the world. We also believe that we can play an important role in rebuilding and improving our health systems to better address tomorrow’s challenges. Through closer partnerships with other health system actors, we can more effectively prevent ill-health, improve disease management through data and technology and successfully bring forth new innovation that can improve the health both at a population level and through targeted treatments for individual patients.

Building on this report, EFPIA will invite to a virtual event on September 24 to discuss the role of the industry in contributing to future-proof, resilient health systems, and how innovative solutions and new partnerships can be scaled up across Europe. You can register for this event already now HERE.

The report can also be downloaded from PwC on this link