Abstract Body

Background. National responses to the pandemic varied in the degree to which a strong primary health care approach, which coordinates primary care with public health functions as espoused in the Astana Declaration of 2018, was stressed.

Aim and learning objectives. To understand and compare pandemic responses and exchange lessons learned across countries. The Workshop will enlighten participants on the experiences discovered through the survey findings and will facilitate a discourse on how primary care may be better integrated with public health functions.

Methods and timetable. An international survey of primary care experts, conducted in April and May 2020, solicited perceptions of their respective countries’ primary care strength, pandemic plan implementation, public health measures, and policy decision-making. The responses were then correlated against COVID-19 mortality rates. Bivariate analyses were conducted on 38 countries with five or more responses and qualitative analysis on open text responses.

Results / Conclusions. The outcomes of the pandemic are still being revealed, however, the lack of implementing a coordinated primary health care approach in most countries has already been made clear. Having a strong primary care system, as in the United Kingdom or Italy, did not contribute to a strong response. In other countries, such as Germany and Cyprus, transparent communication and leadership were key to enlisting the population to make necessary personal sacrifices. In addition, technological innovations such as e-consultations were viewed as having a positive impact in most countries. Overall, our findings underscore the challenge of determining specific drivers of success in mitigating the pandemic.