Six lessons for adapting health advocacy strategies—during COVID-19 and beyond.

The pandemic is transforming the world around us—shifting priorities, repurposing resources, accelerating policy development, and more. In this new environment, tried and tested advocacy tactics like face-to-face interactions, ad hoc hallway conversations, and informal teas are no longer viable options. Here are six lessons we’ve learned adapting to the “new normal.”

Be nimble and creative—there is no time to waste.

Since the onset of the pandemic, policies have been developed and implemented with unprecedented speed—often taxing already overstretched governments. When we identify gaps in policy or service provision, instead of first loudly calling on the government to take action, we have seen success rolling up our sleeves and offering to take specific action on policy development or dissemination ourselves, with partners, or established technical working group. When our offers of help are not taken up expeditiously or we lack the resources to support, we can turn to the media for reinforcement.

Keep an eye on the end goal: health for all.

Our work toward creating equitable health systems for all does not cease because of a pandemic. While we respond to the urgency of the moment, we must continue to maintain a long-term vision in our advocacy strategies. We must find effective ways of balancing efforts to focus on both short-term needs for COVID-19 response and longer-term health system improvements. As governments rapidly build health system architectures to respond to the needs of today, there is a special opportunity to reimagine primary health care (PHC) in alignment with political commitments to placing PHC at the foundation of universal health coverage.

While advocating for specific health interventions—such as the scale-up of medical oxygen and related technologies to treat COVID-19—we should also consider the ongoing need for medical oxygen for the treatment of childhood pneumonia. We have also found success in highlighting the indirect impacts of COVID-19 and the disruption of essential health services on vulnerable populations, issues that must remain on the policy agenda during and after the pandemic.