Absence of sustainable governance for health crisis management: the SARS epidemic in Hong Kong

Abstract

It has been recognised that public goods is a function of governance capacity. As demonstrated in the study of crisis management of SARS epidemic in Hong Kong however, the mode of governance presents problems that limit the capacity for public goods delivery. Indeed, crisis underlines the political failure to develop institutional capacity for preventing, managing and learning from crises. Although governance offers a mechanism for marshalling resources for public management, it must attend to institutional orientations that provide appropriate guiding principles for it. The case study suggests that the crisis exposed the “thin＂ governance capacity in Hong Kong as clear cleavages can be found in governance relationships between WHO and China; the China mainland (particularly Guangdong) and Hong Kong; within Hong Kong among different sectors; and within the health sectors spanning government establishments, private sector and the civil society. These cleavages demonstrate the lack of institutional orientations between these relationships. This paper will also use sustainable development paradigm to examine possible ways of “thickening＂ governance and mend these cleavages of the highly compartmentalised health system in the city within a region of minimal administrative integration, thereby strengthening its crisis management capacity.