Background

The review conducted by the Corona Kommissionen has concluded that “Sweden’s pandemic preparedness was inadequate”, the “handling of the pandemic has been marked by a slowness of response”. While the health care system was able to cope, this victory came “at the price of extreme pressure on staff and of cancelled and postponed care”.  Many other countries shared this experience. It is now time to look back at what happened to understand how to better prepare for the next pandemic both in Sweden and the rest of the world.

The COVID-19 pandemic has shown the world the importance of providing research advice to decision makers (in both policy and business) based on a coordinated multidisciplinary approach. Policy makers have been struggling to assess the combined health and economic effects of the public health measures introduced in a unified and coherent way. The IMF, the World Bank, Central Banks, and Treasuries around the world have been asked for urgent support on complex public health issues that are not traditionally part of their mission.

Noticing the enormous economic and social costs of the COVID-19 pandemic, economists and epidemiologists have started to work together and develop a new breed of models that integrate economics and epidemiology. These can project the health, economic and social impacts of the pandemic and mitigation strategies in a unified fashion.

The aim of the workshops is to foster dialogue and collaborations between policy makers, economists and epidemiologists working at the intersection of economics and epidemiology to make the world better prepared for the next pandemic.