Leiden University Student Repository

Trichard, Fiona (2022)

Health policy reforms in South Korea between 2015-2020 and their impact on the COVID-19 crisis

Master thesis | Asian Studies (60 EC) (MA)

South Korea is seen globally as an example of efficient COVID-19 response. Yet, advocates of this “South Korean model” tend to focus on high technology with a short-termed securitisation perspective, and fail to appreciate the importance of the health reform process happening prior to the COVID-19 crisis. A significant number of health reforms took place between 2015 and 2020, aiming specifically at improving the Korean infectious disease response system. These reforms resulted from the failure of containing the Middle East respiratory syndrome–related coronavirus outbreak (MERS-CoV), which hit South Korea in 2015 and escalated dramatically due to poor crisis management and lack of an efficient infectious disease response system. This thesis will demonstrate that the health reform process between 2015 and 2020 was democratic and enabled South Korea to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.

covid-19

south korea

mers

Author

Trichard, Fiona

Faculty

Faculty of Humanities

Specialisation

Politics, Society and Economy of Asia

Supervisors

Lindsay Black

ECTS Credits

15

Language

en