Building a multisystemic understanding of societal resilience to the COVID-19 pandemic

Didier Wernli¹, Mia Clausin², Nino Antulov-Fantulin³, John Berezowski⁴, Nikola Biller-Andorno⁵, Karl Blanchet⁶, Lucas Böttcher⁷, Claudine Burton-Jeangros⁸, Gérard Escher⁹, Antoine Flahault¹⁰, Keiji Fukuda¹¹, Dirk Helbing³, Philip D Jaffé¹², Peter Søgaard Jørgensen^{13

14}, Yuliya Kaspiarovich², Jaya Krishnakumar¹⁵, Roderick John Lawrence¹⁶, Kelley Lee¹⁷, Anaïs Léger², Nicolas Levrat^{2

18}, Romain Martischang¹⁹, Chantal M Morel², Didier Pittet¹⁹, Maxime Stauffer^{20

21}, Fabrizio Tediosi^{22

23}, Flore Vanackere², Jean-Dominique Vassalli^{24

25}, Gaélane Wolff²⁶, Oran Young²⁷

Affiliations

¹ Geneva Transformative Governance Lab, Global Studies Institute, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland didier.wernli@unige.ch.
² Geneva Transformative Governance Lab, Global Studies Institute, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
³ Computational Social Science, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
⁴ Vetsuisse Faculty, Veterinary Public Health Institute, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
⁵ Institute of Biomedical Ethics and History of Medicine, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
⁶ Geneva Centre of Humanitarian Studies, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva and Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva, Switzerland.
⁷ Computational Medicine, UCLA, Los Angeles, California, USA.
⁸ Department of Sociology, School of Social Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
⁹ Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne, Switzerland.
¹⁰ Institute of Global Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
¹¹ School of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, People's Republic of China.
¹² Interfaculty Center for Children's Rights Studies, Faculty of Psychology and Education, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
¹³ Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm, Sweden.
¹⁴ Global Economic Dynamics and the Biosphere, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Stockholm, Sweden.
¹⁵ Institute of Economics and Econometrics, Geneva School of Economics and Management, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
¹⁶ Institute for Environmental Sciences, Geneva School of Social Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
¹⁷ Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada.
¹⁸ Faculty of Law, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
¹⁹ Infection Control Programme, University of Geneva Hospitals and Faculty of Medicine, Geneva, Switzerland.
²⁰ Geneva Science Policy Interface, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
²¹ Simon Institute for Longterm Governance, Geneva, Switzerland.
²² Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Basel, Switzerland.
²³ University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
²⁴ Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
²⁵ International Institute for the Rights of the Child, Sion, Switzerland.
²⁶ Global Studies Institute, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
²⁷ Bren School of Environmental Science and Management, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California, USA.

PMID: 34301677
PMCID: PMC8300552
DOI: 10.1136/bmjgh-2021-006794

Review

Building a multisystemic understanding of societal resilience to the COVID-19 pandemic

Didier Wernli et al. BMJ Glob Health. 2021 Jul.

. 2021 Jul;6(7):e006794.

doi: 10.1136/bmjgh-2021-006794.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Geneva Transformative Governance Lab, Global Studies Institute, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland didier.wernli@unige.ch.
² Geneva Transformative Governance Lab, Global Studies Institute, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
³ Computational Social Science, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
⁴ Vetsuisse Faculty, Veterinary Public Health Institute, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
⁵ Institute of Biomedical Ethics and History of Medicine, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
⁶ Geneva Centre of Humanitarian Studies, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva and Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva, Switzerland.
⁷ Computational Medicine, UCLA, Los Angeles, California, USA.
⁸ Department of Sociology, School of Social Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
⁹ Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne, Switzerland.
¹⁰ Institute of Global Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
¹¹ School of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, People's Republic of China.
¹² Interfaculty Center for Children's Rights Studies, Faculty of Psychology and Education, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
¹³ Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm, Sweden.
¹⁴ Global Economic Dynamics and the Biosphere, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Stockholm, Sweden.
¹⁵ Institute of Economics and Econometrics, Geneva School of Economics and Management, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
¹⁶ Institute for Environmental Sciences, Geneva School of Social Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
¹⁷ Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada.
¹⁸ Faculty of Law, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
¹⁹ Infection Control Programme, University of Geneva Hospitals and Faculty of Medicine, Geneva, Switzerland.
²⁰ Geneva Science Policy Interface, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
²¹ Simon Institute for Longterm Governance, Geneva, Switzerland.
²² Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Basel, Switzerland.
²³ University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
²⁴ Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
²⁵ International Institute for the Rights of the Child, Sion, Switzerland.
²⁶ Global Studies Institute, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
²⁷ Bren School of Environmental Science and Management, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California, USA.

PMID: 34301677
PMCID: PMC8300552
DOI: 10.1136/bmjgh-2021-006794

Abstract

The current global systemic crisis reveals how globalised societies are unprepared to face a pandemic. Beyond the dramatic loss of human life, the COVID-19 pandemic has triggered widespread disturbances in health, social, economic, environmental and governance systems in many countries across the world. Resilience describes the capacities of natural and human systems to prevent, react to and recover from shocks. Societal resilience to the current COVID-19 pandemic relates to the ability of societies in maintaining their core functions while minimising the impact of the pandemic and other societal effects. Drawing on the emerging evidence about resilience in health, social, economic, environmental and governance systems, this paper delineates a multisystemic understanding of societal resilience to COVID-19. Such an understanding provides the foundation for an integrated approach to build societal resilience to current and future pandemics.

Keywords: COVID-19; health policy; health systems.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: None declared.

Figures

**Figure 1**
Interconnected societal systems and their different goals in addressing the COVID-19 pandemic.

**Figure 2**
Resilience to the COVID-19 pandemic as a multi-layered network of interconnected drivers and systems at every social organisation scale and governance level.

See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

1. Wernli D, Tediosi F, Blanchet K, et al. . A complexity lens on the COVID-19 pandemic. Int J Health Policy Manag 2021. 10.34172/ijhpm.2021.55. [Epub ahead of print: 26 May 2021] (published Online First: 2021/06/15). - DOI - PMC - PubMed
1. Helbing D. Globally networked risks and how to respond. Nature 2013;497:51–9. 10.1038/nature12047 - DOI - PubMed
1. Abbey EJ, Khalifa BAA, Oduwole MO, et al. . The global health security index is not predictive of coronavirus pandemic responses among organization for economic cooperation and development countries. PLoS One 2020;15:e0239398. 10.1371/journal.pone.0239398 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
1. Folke C. Resilience (Republished). Ecology and Society 2016;21:1–30. 10.5751/ES-09088-210444 - DOI - PubMed
1. Ungar M. Multisystemic resilience: adaptation and transformation in contexts of change. USA: Oxford University Press, 2021.

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Building a multisystemic understanding of societal resilience to the COVID-19 pandemic

Affiliations

Building a multisystemic understanding of societal resilience to the COVID-19 pandemic

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

Conflict of interest statement

Figures

References

Publication types

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources

Medical