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Public Health & Epidemiology vocabulary · Global Health and Health Systems

Health system

Meaning in public health & epidemiology, with examples

nounCommon term

In public health & epidemiology, health system means: All the organisations, people, resources and actions whose main purpose is to promote, restore or maintain health in a country, including financing, workforce, services and governance.

In Turkish: sağlık sistemi

How it is used

WHO describes six building blocks: service delivery, health workforce, information, medical products, financing, and leadership and governance. People strengthen, reform or overload a health system; 'health systems strengthening' is a common goal.

Example sentences

  1. The pandemic exposed weaknesses in the health system, especially staff shortages.

  2. A resilient health system can keep routine services running during a crisis.

Common collocations

  • health system strengthening
  • resilient health system
  • health system reform
  • health system capacity
  • primary health careEssential, community-based health care that is people's first point of contact with the health system, covering prevention, treatment of common conditions and health promotion close to where they live.
  • universal health coverageA situation in which everyone can use the good-quality health services they need, from prevention to treatment and care, without suffering financial hardship.
  • WHOShort for the World Health Organization, the United Nations agency for international public health, founded in 1948 and based in Geneva.
  • access to healthcareThe ability of people to get the health services they need when they need them, which depends on cost, distance, waiting times, language and whether the services exist at all.

More terms: Global Health and Health Systems

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This page explains English vocabulary for learners. It is not medical advice.