What is everyday health system resilience?

December 2017
Rebecca Wolfe, Lucy Gilson, Edwine Barasa, Nonhlanhla Nxumalo, Susan Cleary, Jane Goudge, Sassy Molyneux, Benjamin Tsofa, Uta Lehmann

Discussion of resilience in the health sector is characterised by a focus on sudden shocks, such as disease outbreaks; but beyond sudden shocks, organisations and systems face ongoing strains caused by multiple factors. These multiple routine stressors demand resilience everyday to ensure a continuous delivery of health services. 

RESYST researchers, based within learning sites in Kenya and South Africa, have been working alongside managers and frontline workers, to understand what everyday resilience is and how it can be nurtured. This 7 minute animation maps out:

  • Types of routine challenges faced by district health managers everyday.
  • Additional challenges faced in contexts where the health system has recently devolved.
  • Managerial responses to routine everyday challenges.
  • A range of strategies used to deliver health services in the face of constant strain.
  • Which organisational capacities can lead to strengthened health systems and everyday resilience.
  • Leadership strategies and capacities that generate everyday resilience.
  • Implications of the research for policy and practice.

 

    Governance Everyday resilience