Frayed Rope and Resilient Threads
Fijian Healthcare and the Covid ‐19 Pandemic
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21147001 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Sharon J Mclennan (0000-0001-9167-8818, Victoria University of Wellington), Johanna Thomas-Maude (0000-0003-0225-8489, Massey University), Apisalome Movono (0000-0003-1250-9632, University of the South Pacific), Akisi Ravono (0000-0002-2874-113X, University of Fiji) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Publication date | 2026-06-22 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Asia Pacific Viewpoint (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1360-7456 • E-ISSN: 1467-8373 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/apv.70060 |
| OpenAlex | W7165658566 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 48 |
In April 2021, Fiji faced international scrutiny due to ‘horrific’ hospital conditions, including staff and patients lacking food, non‐operational operating theatres, and critical shortages of beds, medicine, and equipment. After successfully avoiding a major outbreak in 2020, a sudden surge in COVID‐19 cases in 2021 overwhelmed the public health system. This paper develops the magimagi, a culturally grounded health systems resilience framework, and draws from the WHO building blocks for the Pacific and conceptualisations of the health sector as a complex adaptive system (CAS), to examine the impact of COVID‐19 and the Fijian health system's response. Based on talanoa with key informants and document analysis, we find that decades of political instability, recurrent crises, and chronic under‐resourcing frayed the magimagi and limited the system's capacity to respond to and recover from the pandemic. Nevertheless, health system functionality during this crisis was supported by the adaptive practices of local leadership and health workers. These responses were underpinned by intangible resources rooted in solesolevaki and communal cultural values, which may offer a culturally embedded pathway towards resilience‐building in Fiji's health system
Health care · Healthcare system · Pandemic · Psychological resilience · Public health · Resilience (materials science) · Scrutiny · Surge Capacity · Caribbean history, culture, and politics · Climate Change, Adaptation, Migration · Island Studies and Pacific Affairs
Health-system resilience
Building resilient health systems
The challenge of complexity in health care
Talanoa Research Methodology
Thematic Analysis
Resilience as embedded neoliberalism
Frontline Health Care Workers' (HCWs) perception of barriers to managing Covid-19 in Fiji
Social networks and other forgotten components of the WaSH enabling environment in Fiji
Economic Vulnerabilities and Livelihoods
We invited the disease to come to us”
Document Analysis as a Qualitative Research Method
From bouncing back, to nurturing emergence
Towards an understanding of resilience
Decolonising Framings in Pacific Research
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |