More efforts urged to narrow gap, address issues in ASEAN

BANGKOK, August 7 (TNA) - ASEAN Secretary-General Dr. Le Luong Minh has suggested that pro-active integration of health and non-health interventions are needed to narrow the development gap among member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and to address regional health issues. The ASEAN secretary-general made the recommendations in his keynote address at the Biregional Meeting on Healthy Borders in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS), held in Bangkok on Wednesday. The incumbent ASEAN chief acknowledged that more than 10 years after the Declaration of a Healthy ASEAN, there have been improvements, but regional disparities remain. The ASEAN chief said such the disparities can be exemplified by the increasing resistance of malaria to artemisinin derivatives, the most effective anti-malaria drug available presently, as reported in border areas of the GMS member countries. The Vietnamese ASEAN chief pointed out that ASEAN needs to strengthen the inter-linkage between the ASEAN Health Cooperation and the non-health sector in all three pillars of the ASEAN Community (AC) in order to achieve the Healthy ASEAN Community targets. Chairing a summary discussion of the meeting, Thai Public Health Minister Dr. Pradit Sintawanarong cautioned that the formation of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) by 2015 will increase population movements, which may aggravate public health problems along border areas, namely multiple communicable diseases, HIV, Tuberculosis, Malaria and emerging diseases, noting that border health issues need multi-sectoral approaches. The Thai health minister proposed that a steering committee be set up among ASEAN member countries tasked with determining what should be the direction and how should be done to achieve the ultimate goal in establishing the healthcare system in the 10-member bloc. Former ASEAN secretary General Dr. Surin Pitsuwan, who is also a former Thai foreign minister, meanwhile, suggested that a particular attention be paid to the establishment of the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community (ASCC) pillar to address problems related to migrant workers, one of critical issues in the region, ahead the establishment of the AEC by 2015. Dr. Surin's recommendations were part of his keynote speech at a forum on “ASEAN 2015 – Challenges and Opportunities”, held in Bangkok by the Human Development Forum Foundation (HDFF), a Thai foundation focused on Human Security issues. Dr. Surin also emphasized that participation by civil sectors, including those not endorsed by the state and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), is needed in building up the AEC. Tuesday's full-day event with panel discussion focused on key topics concerning the AEC, including future perspectives for consumers in the region and issues concerning the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community, like human trafficking and migration. (TNA)