Health impact of ASEAN integration explored

ASEAN Integration and its Health Implications, a special issue of the peer-reviewed journal Global Health Action, addresses the public health issues that could arise from the formation of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) by the end of 2015. The first publication of its kind to tackle such concerns, this special issue comprises 12 articles covering universal health care, child immunization, the advantages and disadvantages of medical tourism, and the AEC and medical qualifications. 

 

 

The special supplement was initiated by HealthSpace Asia, a collaborative research and policy development platform focused on facilitating inclusive health in Asia, with support from the Rockefeller Foundation, and was launched at the PMAC 2015 in Bangkok, one of Asia’s most prominent global health conferences.

 

Dr. Piya Hanvoravongchai, a public health physician and coordinator with HealthSpace Asia, said that this initiative raises a multitude of public health related questions such as the spread of diseases and health care funding arising from a more fluid, transnational workforce.

 

“The idea was to focus purely on research that addressed the potential health impacts of ASEAN Integration,” said Dr. Hanvoravongchai. He refers to the paper dealing with universal health coverage as one of the most compelling in the issue, especially with several ASEAN countries hoping to achieve universal health coverage within the next five years. 

 

“This paper [on universal health coverage] provides country-by-country comparisons of the progress, political commitments, and potential barriers, and proposes ideas for how UHC could be fully achieved in the region,” he added.

 

Peter Byass, director of the Umeå Centre for Global Health Research and editor of the special issue, said the holistic picture provided by the journal is noteworthy. 

 

“Most of the public health research articles that come out of Africa and Asia are local studies. This is very different than what you see in Europe, for instance, where holistic studies are common. And it’s what makes this issue a particularly interesting collection of work. It is new to this region of the world to work in concert on public health issues,” Mr. Byass added.

 

“This being the first series of this kind of academic research focused on the region, we hope this prompts much needed policy dialogue while also triggering future studies and new finding,” Dr. Hanvoravongchai further stated.

 

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will create a market of more than 630 million people when ASEAN Integration becomes a reality later this year. The new, cohesive economic community will comprise the 10-member ASEAN states: Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Viet Nam.