The world has seen frequent outbreaks of epidemics, pandemics, and other natural disasters over the past few years. The COVID-19 pandemic reinforced the need for resilient health systems like never before.

COVID-19 has exposed the fragility of health systems across nations. It has bared gaps in the preparedness of health systems to withstand shocks. Even countries with the most advanced healthcare systems faltered in containing the spread of the virus and averting the loss of lives.

The rising incidence of health crises arising from environmental, geopolitical, economic and biological threats demands a concerted effort to learn continuously from the unpredictable developments and chasms exposed across systems, and from the adaptive innovations to counter these shocks.

Health systems assessment frameworks for resilience and pandemic preparedness were found lacking in their predictive abilities. The frequent waves and the spread of variants point to the need for existing epidemiological models to evolve further for providing better measurements.

Deaths and morbidity, social and economic disruption, and the collapse of even the most basic healthcare services show that health systems should be designed to meet healthcare and health financing needs of people not only during normal times but also during crises. This is an opportune time to reflect, research, share, discuss, and debate, in order to learn from the pandemic to be able to prevent and be better prepared in our response to future crises. Within this context, the GLC4HSR is set up with two broad objectives: