Reimagining the Culture of Care and Wellbeing: Lessons from the South Korean Experience | Campaign for Sustainability | truCSR

Written by Rebecca Shibu

Compiled by Vrinda Panpalia

Edited by Yamini Peter

The world stands at the juncture of building an ecosystem that needs to support the existing crisis of COVID-19, further evolve and make room for growth. After having gone through a little more than a revolution with the pandemic around us, the value associated with ‘health’ has increased substantially. Health is prevalent, its prevalence has gone beyond just a lay person’s journey from the nearest clinic to the chemist’s. It entails the entire culture of care that resounds in the actions and responses to a pandemic like that exists today.

We depend on being healthy — and getting access to quality healthcare when we're sick — as a base for living our lives, whether it's working, socialising, or simply contributing to society. Everything we do is focused on good health and well-being. However, the United Nation notes that until 2019, at least half of the world’s population did not have access to basic healthcare.

World Health Day

The World Health Organization (WHO) defines health as a state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. The definition links health explicitly with wellbeing and establishes health as a right that requires physical and social resources to achieve and maintain. Furthermore, ‘wellbeing’ is referred to as a positive rather than a neutral state, framing health as a positive aspiration.

“Building a fairer, healthier world” is the theme of World Health Day 2021. It stems from the fact that some people have better access to healthcare than others, and how unfairly quality healthcare is dependent on socio-economic conditions, age, race, work. This year’s World Health day course is set out towards more sustainable and equitable healthcare systems and wellbeing to each and every one. In order to provide equitable and accessible healthcare to everyone, each nation should reflect and analyze the existing healthcare system and learn from actions taken across the globe to build approaches to quality healthcare.

COVID-19 and India's Infrastructure of Care and Wellbeing

In her speech for the budget proposals for 2021-22, the finance minister of India, Ms. Nirmala Sitharaman, referred to ‘health and wellbeing’ as the first of six pillars of the proposals and focused on strengthening three areas: Preventive, Curative and Wellbeing. The cycle of prevention, cure and wellbeing contribute greatly to a well-functioning healthcare system. The onset of the pandemic brought impediments to each area. Policy measures rooted in maintaining the three areas would require work that begins at the foundation of the healthcare systems in India.

There is historic evidence that a pandemic like a plague or COVID-19 known to have severely impacted human lives, livelihood, the economy and the general wellbeing of the people. Furthermore, any pandemic is known to derail the existing infrastructures, which has happened as we saw during the COVID-19, witnessed replacement and adoption of newer infrastructure as a response to the current crisis. In terms of healthcare and access in India during COVID-19, the delivery systems turned out to be proficient, while exposing the poor accessibility of quality healthcare to the weaker sections of the country. 

COVID-19 has demonstrated the inadequacy of private healthcare as well as the importance of investing in and improving public healthcare. In the long run, the government would need to re-evaluate and significantly boost public healthcare and infrastructure spending. As much as it is important to look at what’s ahead, the past needs to be taken into consideration too. Learnings can be then drawn and worked on. As we hit the second wave of COVID-19, India is exposed to several obstacles that need to be deconstructed and dealt with, especially with vaccination rollouts and healthcare delivery procedures to all people.

Lessons from the South Korean Experience and Key Takeaways
While we ponder over what could’ve been done differently in order to ensure an equitable approach to healthcare and genuine wellbeing - we look into South Korea to understand its performance in the area of health and draw learnings from their response.

South Korea’s experience in its own context is a success. The government of South Korea was able to act rapidly and efficiently.. They implemented 48 measures to improve public health emergency preparedness and response after a botched response to a Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) outbreak in 2015. In addition, there was a well-functioning national health insurance system, ample human resources and infrastructure, and constructive relationships between key institutions and ministries that enabled an extraordinarily decisive response to COVID-19. 

The public health community is encouraged to benefit from South Korea's achievements in reducing COVID-19 death rate and controlling the spread of the virus. These conclusions are important in educating administrators/governments on how to fight COVID-19. Countries should concentrate on assisting people who are economically isolated and make research goods accessible to the general public through subsidies to ensure that they are low-cost or free of charge, as South Korea has done. In addition, public health organisations can continue to disseminate real-time statistics and recommendations while also preventing the dissemination of misinformation and sensationalized anecdotes.

In drawing things to a close
The second wave of COVID-19 has hit the globe stronger than ever, a sustainable approach that is embedded in making the culture of care more accessible that aims at wellbeing. From the South Korean experience, it is evident that the course of action and responses were primarily based on the learning from an outbreak and data-driven decision-making to monitor and track the affected ones. 

In the attempt to bring innovation to the healthcare system, appropriate interventions that are relevant to our contexts would make way for sustainable changes. Reimagining the culture of care and wellbeing requires taking a step back and analyzing the route of healthcare in India till today. Tracking, comprehending and identifying key areas of limitations that need to be addressed through informed policy-level changes. Furthermore, the implementation of the same should overcome impediments that are structural in nature. 

Sustainability in the culture of care comes when wellbeing of all people today and tomorrow is catered to. Lessons from the first wave of the pandemic can help approach the second wave effectively. As much as people of today have the right to health and eventually wellbeing, it is equally the right of the generations to follow.

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