Rethinking Health Priorities in Times of Pandemic

This paper reviews the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic in the Dominican Republic, in the context of the Americas region. It also reviews the response measures and their results in the country, including the role of primary care in containing the epidemic in the countries with the best performance of their health systems in Latin America and the Caribbean. Statistics from international databases are used for comparative analysis and epidemiological bulletins from the Ministry of Public Health for the Dominican case. It concludes with the need to strengthen primary care and reverse the financing priorities of health spending to improve the response to health emergencies.