COVID-19 Disruption To Routine Health Care Services: How 8 Latin American And Caribbean Countries Responded.

Abstract

Latin America and the Caribbean was one of the regions hardest hit globally by SARS-CoV-2. This qualitative exploratory study examined how the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the delivery of routine health services from the perspective of health care system decision makers and managers. Between May and December 2022, we conducted forty-two semistructured interviews with decision makers from ministries of health and health care managers with responsibilities during the COVID-19 pandemic in eight countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. On the basis of these interviews, we identified themes in three domains: impacts on the provision of routine health services, including postponed and forgone primary care and hospital services; barriers to maintaining routine health services due to preexisting structural health care system weaknesses and difficulties attributed to the pandemic; and innovative strategies to sustain and recover services such as public-private financing and coordination, telemedicine, and new roles for primary care. In the short term, policy efforts should focus on recovering postponed services, including those for noncommunicable diseases. Medium- and long-term health care system reforms should strengthen primary care and address structural issues, such as fragmentation, to promote more resilient health care systems.