The British may fetishise their National Health Service and the Americans their healthcare innovations and star doctors, but — when seen through the lens of coronavirus — other countries, from Taiwan to Norway, have served their citizens’ health better.

As policymakers reflect on the lessons of Covid-19, many assumptions have been overthrown on the best ways to improve the delivery of healthcare in general — and to prepare for pandemics, in particular. Metrics once seen as credible predictors of performance have proved inadequate.

Since 2005, for example, the World Health Organization has led a Joint External Evaluation to analyse countries’ pandemic preparations, in line with the guidance of the International Health Regulations.

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