The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the vulnerability of many health systems across the world, including some of the highest income countries, when they were overwhelmed by rapid surges of demand for health services and disruptions to the global healthcare supply chain. The suspension or even closure of some life-saving healthcare facilities and provisions, such as childhood immunization programmes, coupled with the fear of disease exposure, have made access to healthcare challenging. These factors may have led to a rise in preventable deaths due to delayed diagnosis of cancers and other diseases, and poor management of existing chronic conditions such as diabetes.