Risk Management and Healthcare Policy

Resilient Health Systems and Policy Responses in Public Health Crises

Public health crises place significant pressure on healthcare systems, disrupting the continuity of essential services and exposing structural vulnerabilities across care delivery. Events such as pandemics amplify existing inequalities in access to care, inefficiencies in resource allocation, and limitations in infrastructure readiness. These disruptions are further compounded by uncertainty and systemic risks that challenge traditional models of healthcare delivery. Addressing these challenges requires integrated strategies that strengthen health system resilience, enhance risk management capacity, and enable adaptive and data-informed responses to rapidly evolving health needs. This Article Collection aims to explore evidence-based approaches to improving health system resilience while ensuring continuity of essential services during public health crises.

The importance of resilient and risk-responsive healthcare systems has become increasingly evident as large-scale crises generate widespread social and economic disruption. These conditions place pressure on healthcare delivery systems, strain workforce capacity, and exacerbate inequities in access to care. Such challenges reveal critical gaps in risk governance, policy coordination, and system-level decision-making under uncertainty. Without adaptive and data-informed policy frameworks, these disruptions may lead to long-term consequences, including rising healthcare costs, reduced system efficiency, and widening health inequalities. Strengthening healthcare systems therefore requires coordinated policy responses, effective governance mechanisms, and strategic resource allocation to ensure system resilience and sustainable recovery.

This Article Collection invites original research, policy analyses, short reports, case studies, and perspectives that examine health system resilience, risk governance, and policy responses during public health crises.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

• Health system preparedness, resilience, and continuity of essential services during public health crises
• Risk governance, emergency policy coordination, and decision-making under uncertainty
• Healthcare utilisation, access inequities, and service disruption in crisis settings
• Community-based care models and service continuity, including mental health as one component
• Workforce resilience, patient safety, and adaptive healthcare delivery
• Risk-informed resource allocation, triage policy, and health economic evaluation during emergencies
• Data-informed surveillance, forecasting, and decision support with clear policy relevance
• Comparative evaluations of crisis response policies across healthcare systems

By integrating multidisciplinary perspectives, this Collection aims to generate actionable insights that support policy-relevant, data-informed decision-making and strengthen resilient healthcare systems in the face of future public health crises.

Please review the journal Aims and Scope and author submission instructions prior to submitting a manuscript.

Please submit your manuscript on our website, quoting the promo code 75080 to indicate that your submission is for consideration in this Article Collection.

Please contact Haoyang Yi (Commissioning Editor) at [email protected] with any queries regarding this Article Collection.

Guest Advisor

Prof. Munjae Lee, Yonsei University

[email protected]

Dr. Munjae Lee is an Associate Professor in the Department of Biohealth Industry at Yonsei University. His research focuses on healthcare system resilience, risk management, and digital health innovation in the biohealth sector. He has led multiple national and international research projects on healthcare policy, medical device ecosystems, and AI-enabled healthcare innovation, with a particular emphasis on system-level decision-making under uncertainty. Dr. Lee serves as an Associate Editor and Editorial Board Member for several international journals, contributing to advancing research in health systems, policy, and innovation.