The UK has long been a global leader in preparing for pandemics. However, the COVID-19 crisis has exposed weaknesses in Britain’s public health strategies. Academic experts from LSE’s Department of Health Policy in the fields of pandemic response, social care and health inequalities will consider pandemic response from a number of different angles, comparing responses across international health systems and decision-making and suggesting what the next steps should be for the UK and internationally.

Miqdad Asaria (@miqedup) is a health economist with extensive experience in both academic and policy making settings. His research interests include health inequalities and health financing. His research in the COVID-19 space relates to the disproportionate effect among the BAME community.

José-Luis Fernandez (@joselele) is Director of the Care Policy and Evaluation Centre, LSE. A health and social care economist, José Luis specialises in ageing-related policies, the interaction between health and social care, and the economic evaluation of health and social care systems and services. He is pioneering resources to support community and institutional long-term care responses to COVID-19.

Alistair McGuire is Chair of Health Economics in the Department of Health Policy. His research interests cover all topics in health economics, including international comparisons, economics of the hospital, public/private sector interface and cost-effectiveness analysis of health technologies.

Clare Wenham (@clarewenham) is Assistant Professor of Global Health Policy. She specialises in global health security and the politics and policy of pandemic preparedness and outbreak response, including Ebola and Zika and more recently COVID-19.

Elias Mossialos (@Mossialos) is Head of Department and Director of LSE Health. He is chief advisor to the Greek Government on the COVID-19 pandemic, and is a member of Sir David King's 12-strong alternative scientific advisory group to SAGE in the UK.

This event is part of LSE's public event series - COVID-19: The Policy Response.

COVID-19 represents an enormous challenge for the social sciences to help governments and non-governmental organisations respond to the economic and societal consequences of the pandemic. Part of LSE's response to this challenge is a series of online public events that will take place over the Summer Term.

Why not visit the School of Public Policy COVID-19 Resource Centre.

This event in the series has been organised by the Department of Health Policy.

The next event in this series will take place at 5pm on 16 June on Crucial Role of State Capacity in Crisis Response.

The Department of Health Policy (@LSEHealthPolicy) trains and inspires people passionate about health by advancing and challenging their understanding of health systems and the social, economic and political contexts in which they operate

Twitter Hashtag for this event: #LSECOVID19

Podcast & Video

A podcast of this event is available to download at COVID-19: the health policy and care response.

A video of this event is available to watch at COVID-19: the health policy and care response.

Podcasts and videos of many LSE events can be found at the LSE Public Lectures and Events: podcasts and videos channel.