General Vision
COLOMBIA
Assessment of Preparedness and Response Capabilities
Facing Future Pandemics and Emergencies in Public Health
The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has shown that public health emergencies can
have devastating impacts on health and essential health services, educa-
tion, inequalities, and economic growth. In fact, many Latin America and the
Caribbean countries have seen a decade of progress in human capital growth
erased during the pandemic.
The World Bank worked with the Colombian government to carry out an
in-depth assessment of gaps in pandemic preparedness and response to
improve the ability to react to future emergencies, with a mixed methodology
that allows triangulating the results obtained from a qualitative and quantita-
tive documentary review, with interviews with key informants, case studies,
prioritization and costing.
The assessment focused on four main dimensions of pandemic prepared-
Eje 1.
ness and effective response: public health administration and governance;
information systems, surveillance, laboratories, and One Health; availability
of critical supplies to respond to emergencies, including vaccines and human
Eje 4.
resources for health; and social determinants and access to health services.
2.
Eje
Eje
3.
The study was carried out using quantitative and qualitative methods and
prioritized and costed 26 interventions.
The following are the main conclusions of the assessment:
› Colombia has many strengths in leadership for emergency prepared-
ness and response, including risk communication, and has a wide
governance framework in place. Long standing central surveillance
systems, public health expertise, laboratory capacity, and immuni-
In fact, many zation programs exist. However, there is still room to develop further
Latin America and the infrastructure for public health surveillance in Colombia, including
information systems.
the Caribbean
countries have › There are critical weaknesses in surveillance and laboratory capacities
at the subnational level, and many departments, districts, and munic-
seen a decade of ipalities have limited basic public health capacities, including public
progress in human health professionals.
capital growth › Surveillance systems in some health system domains, such as those
erased during the for zoonotic and vector-borne diseases and cross-border surveil-
pandemic. lance, are fragmented, which can cause critical delays in emergency
response.
› Territorial inequalities have significant variation in effective access to
quality care despite universal health coverage, leading to the fragility
of the health system and the population during emergencies.
Assessment of Preparedness and Response Capabilities
Facing Future Pandemics and Emergencies in Public Health
The study proposes five main recommendations to address the
gaps identified:
1. Improve public health surveillance capacity at the national and
subnational levels. This will strengthen proactive surveillance capa-
bilities, leading to earlier identification of risk events of public health
concern and enabling more comprehensive surveillance activities.
2. Improve Colombia’s capacity to produce critical supplies to prevent
and manage public health emergencies. This will improve national
response capacity in situations of global shortages of critical supplies,
such as vaccines and reagents, during emergencies.
3. Strengthen governance mechanisms for decisive action in emergen-
cies. This will increase flexibility in access to necessary resources,
strengthen intersectoral action, and ensure that qualified health care
workers are conducted where and when needed.
© Jairo Bedoya Villa
4. Strengthen the governance of health data and surveillance systems,
improving sectoral and intersectoral interoperability at national and
subnational levels. This will ensure that all stakeholders involved in
emergency decision-making have access to the required data in a
timely manner.
5. Leverage primary health care strategies to improve surveillance and
response to health emergencies at the community level and access
to essential health services. This will promote the development and
consolidation of a care model based on renewed primary health care
and will strengthen public health at the local level.
A preliminary costing exercise concludes that to close the gaps
Investment identified in the study, the government will need to invest US$242
under million, including recurring costs of US$212 million per year, less
0.08%
than 0.08 percent of GDP in 2021. This cost excludes investments
in the domestic production of critical inputs such as vaccines
and reagents, currently under consideration by the Colombian
of GDP in 2021 government.