APEC officials hail High-Level Meeting on Health and Economy

A health policy dialouge was held in on August 22 as part of the SOM 3 (Illustrative image. Source: VNA)

HCM City (VNA) – Delegates attending the 7th High-Level Meeting on Health and
the Economy which took place in Ho Chi Minh City on August 23-24 held that the
event is important to of the
(APEC) forum.

James Smith-Plenderleith, Regional
Director for Communication and
Public Affairs of Janssen
Asia Pacific, told Vietnam News Agency reporters that the meeting provided an
opportunity to discuss progress in implementing APEC’s Healthy Asia Pacific
2020 programme,
which calls upon regional economies to develop sustainable and high performing
health systems by adopting or adapting “health in all policies” to enhance
people’s health and wellbeing.

“We approve a number of programmes in support of a
Healthy Asia Pacific 2020 and today I had an opportunity to share our
experience in developing public private partnerships in the areas of HIV, Ebola, tuberculosis and
mental health,” he said.

The 7th APEC High Level Meeting on Health and the Economy was an important summit, bringing
together health and finance experts, as well as organisations in the public and
private sectors,
he said.

“Over the last two days, we heard many
examples of how economies are developing innovative ways to finance and
strengthen health systems, particularly in regards to community healthcare.
Mental healthcare is a great example of this and where terrific progress has
been made in launching an APEC Digital Hub on Mental Health, addressing
illnesses that affect an average 20 percent of the working-age population, as well as productivity, the
economy and both personal and public finances,” he noted.

James Smith-Plenderleith said Janssen,
part of the Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies, is proud to support the
APEC Digital Hub on Mental Health and the broader ambitions of the APEC Healthy
Asia Pacific 2020 programme.

“The Vietnam organising board should be very proud
of their role in supporting such an important dialogue, which has further
strengthened regional efforts to advance the health and economic prosperity of economies across the region,” he
stressed.

Lokky Wai, WHO Chief Representative in Vietnam,
said it is very timely to
have this meeting because many of the APEC economies are in the middle income
status and economic growth needs healthy people.

Leonita P. Gorgolon, a delegate from the
Philippines, said the meeting creates a
venue where APEC economies shared experience in
using medical resources effectively.

He highlighted Vietnam’s
all-people health insurance model and Japan’s mobilisation of social resources
for the sector.

Professor Ian Wronski, an Australian
expert, said he was impressed
by Vietnam’s efforts in the fight against tuberculosis, stressing that to
tackle new diseases, it needs a contingent of health experts who can well forecast
the disease development and put forth effective
preventive measures before the disease causes financial impacts on each economy
and family. –VNA