ASEAN committed to healthcare cooperation
20-Sep-14, Xinhua News
Members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have committed themselves to strengthening healthcare cooperation with a vision of "A Healthy, Caring and Sustainable ASEAN Community."
The commitment was stated in a joint statement adopted at the 12th ASEAN Health Ministers Meeting which was held in Vietnam's capital Hanoi from Monday to Friday.
In the joint statement, ASEAN members will strengthen cooperation in various fields, including promoting healthy lifestyle, responding to all hazards and emerging threats, strengthening health system and access to care, as well as ensuring food safety.
ASEAN members pledge to strengthen primary healthcare in order to achieve universal health coverage and increase access to primary healthcare for ASEAN people, prevent and control non-communicable diseases and newly-emerging infectious ones, and set up a sustainable and effective health financing system.