Lessons Learned on Public Health Emergency Administrative Management of Coronavirus Disease 2019 under the 6 Building Blocks of Health Systems: A Case Study of Sawankhalok District, Sukhothai Province

Abstract

This qualitative research aimed to investigate lessons learned on public health emergency administrative management of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) under the six building blocks of health systems: a case study of Sawankhalok District, Sukhothai Province. The participants were seven hospital health workers, seven district health workers, two local administration officers, and six village health volunteers in Sawankhalok District, Sukhothai Province. They were selected using the maximum variation sampling technique. In-depth interviews and focus group discussions with observations were employed for the data collection on 26 May 2022 and 9 June 2022, after which the data were analyzed by content analysis, and the reliability of the data was verified by triangulation. The results revealed that the model public health emergency administrative management of COVID-19 under the district health system by the mechanism of the district health board consisted of six building blocks as follows: service delivery, health workforce, health information systems, access to essential medicines, health financing, and leadership and governance, which are effective and efficient in surveillance, prevention, control, and treatment of COVID-19.