Capacity-building and Pandemics: Singapore's Response to Covid-19

This book examines the policy capacities developed in Singapore since the 2003 SARS crisis that have contributed to its successful response to the COVID-19 pandemic. It discusses the fiscal, operational, analytical, and political capacities that drove Singapore's policy response, highlighting both its successes and challenges. The book proposes a broad policy capacity framework that can be applied to analyze other contexts. It is of interest to scholars, students, policymakers, and practitioners in public policy and crisis management, particularly those focused on healthcare policy and pandemic response.

Format: Hardback
Length: 112 pages
Publication date: 14 November 2020
Publisher: Springer Verlag, Singapore

This book delves into the policy capabilities that have been developed since the 2003 SARS crisis, which have played a crucial role in Singapore's response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In doing so, it explores the fiscal, operational, analytical, and political capacities that have driven Singapore's policy response to the pandemic, and proposes a comprehensive policy capacity framework that can be applied to analyze other contexts as well.

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused widespread disruptions in societies and economies worldwide. Singapore's early success in managing the pandemic has garnered significant attention from researchers and observers across the globe. A study by the T.H. Chan School of Public Health at Harvard University praised Singapore's early efforts to detect and contain COVID-19 as the "gold standard of near-perfect detection."

Despite Singapore's achievements in containing COVID-19 infections, the country has faced challenges arising from systemic policy blind spots, leading to high levels of infection in its migrant worker dormitories. The book also discusses the systemic blind spots and policy shortcomings that have emerged in Singapore's response to the pandemic, and provides policy recommendations for building policy capacity for future pandemics and crises.

The book will be of immense interest to scholars and students of public policy and crisis management, particularly those specializing in healthcare policy and pandemic response. Given the ongoing challenges posed by COVID-19 and the continued risks of other future infectious disease outbreaks, the book will also be valuable for policymakers and practitioners seeking to draw policy lessons from Singapore's experience with the SARS and COVID-19 outbreaks.

Weight: 288g
Dimension: 156 x 218 x 15 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9789811594526
Edition number: 1st ed. 2021