Mapping the who, what and where of indicators to monitor and evaluate prevention, preparedness, and response during the COVID-19 pandemic

Overview

The COVID-19 pandemic exposed significant limitations in how indicators and frameworks for pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response (PPPR) assess countries’ readiness for health emergencies. This paper maps the institutions and initiatives involved in developing and revising these tools, and reviews the main criticisms, gaps, and recommendations emerging from the literature.

The paper finds that many widely used preparedness indices failed to predict countries’ COVID-19 outcomes, with significant limitations in their development processes, methodologies, and application. Existing frameworks tend to focus heavily on national-level capacities while giving insufficient attention to governance, leadership, equity, trust, societal factors, community and cross-border contexts, and wider health and environmental determinants. The paper calls for more inclusive, context-sensitive and dynamic approaches to measuring PPPR, with indicators that better capture the complex political, social, health-system, and societal factors that shape pandemic resilience.