By Gabe Mascena (Ascom/LAIS)

“Every crisis brings an opportunity.” Based on this premise, Rifat Atun, professor of Global Health Systems at Harvard University, gave a lecture on Resilience in Health Systems, opening the 3rd International Conference on Innovation in Health, an event promoted by the Laboratory for Technological Innovation in Health at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (LAIS/UFRN), which will continue until the 7th, at the Holiday Inn hotel in Natal.

Emphasizing the problems that surround health systems all over the world, Rifat brought a scenario of challenges that cause the inefficiency of these bodies, but that offer opportunities for new studies in innovation. According to the professor, health systems generate concern for not keeping up with other innovations in the area, failing on issues such as efficiency, responsiveness, and resilience.

Highlighting the covid-19 pandemic, the researcher highlighted the opportunity for a large-scale transformation of health systems. “Systems were underperforming long before the pandemic, which only unmasked the extent of that underperformance. Still, there is a great opportunity to fix these systems with innovation,” he stressed. “Every crisis brings an opportunity. Covid-19 generated a crisis, but also a great opportunity in changing health systems.”

Based on studies conducted over 30 years ago, Rifat highlighted the five “Is” framework, filled with actions that promote the resilience and effectiveness of health systems. The actions include Institutional Logic, Inclusive Partnerships, Integraded Action, Investment in Health, and Innovation at Scale.

The event was broadcast live on G1/RN

For those who could not attend in person, the 3rd International Health Innovation Conference is being broadcast live on the G1/RN portal. To follow the program, access: https://g1.globo.com/rn/rio-grande-do-norte/ao-vivo/ao-vivo-3-conferencia-internacional-de-inovacao-em-saude.ghtml.

3rd International Health Innovation Conference

With the central theme “Resilience Systems: the social impact of innovation in health”, the 3rd International Conference on Innovation in Health, promoted by LAIS/UFRN, aims to strengthen relationships between researchers from different parts of Brazil and the world, emphasizing the development of technology for health, in addition to resilience through human contact. The complete program of the event is available at: https://inovacaotecnologica.lais.huol.ufrn.br/programacao/.