Foresight in the time of COVID-19

Gariboldi, Maria Isabella; Lin, Vivian; Bland, Jessica; Auplish, Mallika; Cawthorne, Amy

doi:10.26181/5ff7d28f4103d

Foresight in the time of COVID-19

journal contribution

posted on 2021-01-08, 03:33 authored by Maria Isabella Gariboldi, Vivian LinVivian Lin, Jessica Bland, Mallika Auplish, Amy Cawthorne

_{Foresight methodologies enable individuals and organizations to envision different future scenarios and plan for greater future resilience. However, foresight is an underused methodology in the Western Pacific region for health policy development that could be extremely beneficial, among other areas, in the context of public health emergency response. We present lessons learned from the application of foresight methodologies through remote, agile think tank sprints to inform the World Health Organization (WHO) Western Pacific Regional Office's (WPRO) response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Four think tanks were set up in topic areas of interest. The think tanks used a six-step foresight methodology to develop scenarios for the pandemic in an 18-month horizon. Backcasting was used to generate recommendations for WHO response and support for countries. This case study demonstrates the value of using foresight methodologies in public health, and specifically in the context of a public health emergency, and its ability to inform more context-appropriate and future-proof responses.}

Funding

Japan

History

Publication Date

2021-01-01

Journal

The Lancet Regional Health - Western Pacific

Volume

6

Article Number

100049

Pagination

6p. (p. 1-6)

Publisher

Elsevier

ISSN

2666-6065

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