Health system resilience: Understanding complex adaptive systems

This publication presents an edited collection that explores how health systems can mitigate crises and ongoing stresses to remain functional and effective over time. Drawing on systems thinking and complexity science, the contributors examine health systems as adaptive, dynamic, and evolving entities shaped by their environments and by human decision-making. The book analyses how health systems absorb shocks, adapt to disruption, and, in some cases, transform in response to crises, with particular attention to how clinicians, managers, and patients process information and make decisions under uncertainty. It also offers an in-depth examination of the COVID-19 pandemic and its lasting effects on health systems and health system interactions. Overall, the volume provides practical insights, methods, and tools for strengthening health system resilience, making it a valuable resource for policymakers, health service managers, researchers, and students.