ASEAN Health Ministers cooperate with the United States to develop and strengthen the health system, Indonesian Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin stated at the online press conference of the 15th ASEAN Health Ministers’ Meeting, Sunday.
During the ASEAN-US Health Minister Level Meeting’s special session, the health ministers agree to discuss and adopt the ASEAN-US Reference Framework and to develop three years’ work plan, he stated.
During the meeting, the ministers agreed to bolster three aspects, with the first one pertaining to strengthening the health system for an emergency situation.
“(This aims) to prevent the next pandemic,” he explained.
The second aspect involves developing the health system through human resources. A strong and equitable health system must be followed by trained, well-performing health workers.
“Human resources became the US’ attention. They really wish to develop human resources,” Gunadi remarked.
To this end, the ASEAN and US strive to bolster the capacity and the number of health workers while also ensuring the relevancy of their quality to meet the population’s health demand.
The third aspect relates to bolstering information and data system to support the development of vaccine, therapy, and local diagnostic equipment production.
To execute this, the ministers agreed to conduct technology and know-how transfer while also improving development and the researchers’ capacity.
The US is committed to specifically helping the ASEAN in these three aspects, the minister noted.
He expects that the concept of the ASEAN Health sector regional cooperation with partners will develop and bolster the health system not just for ASEAN member nations but also for the United States.
“Once the ASEAN-US Health Sector Work Plan has been decided, Indonesia is ready to contribute in achieving the priority that had been set,” he noted.
“I believe that the US’ expertise, knowledge, and experience will be beneficial for the future of ASEAN’s Health Sector,” he remarked.
Source: Antara News