Health Cooperation

Countries in the Greater Mekong Subregion aim for Sustainable Development Goals for health. Through the Working Group on Health Cooperation, GMS countries are taking comprehensive, coordinated and proactive approaches to address regional health issues.

The Greater Mekong Subregion still experiences high incidence of communicable diseases and drug-resistant microorganisms. GMS countries also suffer from inefficient health systems due to lack of synergies, economies of scale, and scope; and there are few common solutions to common health problems.

The health agenda of the GMS Economic Cooperation Program Strategic Framework 2030 (GMS-2030) will focus on communicable disease control through cross-border surveillance and modeling, information exchange, implementation of international health regulations, and pandemic preparedness. Since universal health coverage is a critical regional public good, GMS-2030 will aim to accelerate its implementation. This will be effected by strengthening the performance of GMS health systems to prevent, detect, and respond to public health threats such as COVID-19 and other emerging diseases; supporting countries to comply with the World Health Organization’s International Health Regulations; applying a unified approach to environmental, animal, and human health (“One Health”); strengthening protection of vulnerable communities and migrants; building capacity and cross-border cooperation to address priority health issues; and advancing gender equality to build subregional health cooperation leadership and decision-making policy. GMS-2030 aims to provide a new setting for the development of this subregion for the next decade.

Regional health cooperation initiatives in the GMS, based on the 5-year strategy that identifies operational priorities for health cooperation for 2019-2023, focus on three strategic pillars:

Strategic Pillar 1: Health security as a regional public good tackles the subregion’s vulnerability to acute public health events. Ensuring robust national health systems with capacity to prevent, detect and respond to transnational health threats is the cornerstone of health security.

Strategic Pillar 2: Health impacts of connectivity and mobility respond to health challenges stemming from an increasingly interconnected GMS. Strengthening health systems in border areas where migrant and mobile populations pass and reside is an entry point for programming. Also includes. integrating health impact assessment during project planning and implementation of GMS urban and transport infrastructure projects.

Strategic Pillar 3: Health workforce development builds on the subregion’s existing human resource capacity to address common health challenges. Strong leadership in turn opens opportunities for intraregional capacity building, utilizing the subregions’ depth of health human resource and health programming experience to tackle shared health issues and enhance country efforts to attain Sustainable Development Goal targets.

The Working Group on Health Cooperation seeks to address collective action problems of regional health investments and limited resources for health that tend to prioritize national investments.

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Health

Focal Persons at the Asian Development Bank

  • Rikard Elfving 
    Human and Social Development Sector Office
    Sectors Group

  • Najibullah Habib 
    Human and Social Development Sector Office
    Sectors Group

Other Concerned Staff & Consultants

  • Pinsuda Alexander 
    Regional Cooperation and Integration Unit
    Southeast Asia Department 

  • Mario Randolph Dacanay 
    Human and Social Development Sector Office
    Sectors Group

  • Rowena Sancio 
    Regional Cooperation and Integration Unit
    Southeast Asia Department/GMS Secretariat

Send inquiries to GMS Secretariat. 



Human Resources

Focal Persons at the Asian Development Bank

  • Rikard Elfving 
    Human and Social Development Sector Office
    Sectors Group

Other Concerned Staff & Consultants

  • Pinsuda Alexander 
    Regional Cooperation and Integration Unit
    Southeast Asia Department 

  • Mario Randolph Dacanay 
    Human and Social Development Sector Office
    Sectors Group

  • Rowena Sancio 
    Regional Cooperation and Integration Unit
    Southeast Asia Department/GMS Secretariat

Send inquiries to GMS Secretariat. 

Human Resource Development

After more than 20 years, the Working Group on Human Resource Development was restructured in 2017 to focus on health, given the strategic importance of regional cooperation in this area.

Labor migrants in the Greater Mekong Subregion play a vital role in economic development. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) have organized joint virtual dialogues on labor mobility.

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Consequent to the review of the GMS Institutional Framework in 2016 and a separate review of the Strategic Framework and Action Plan for Human Resource Development in the GMS 2013–2017, GMS ministers endorsed the creation of the Working Group on Health Cooperation in 2017.

Human resource development, however, continues to be an important sector in the Greater Mekong Subregion. At an extraordinary meeting of the Working Group on Human Resource Development in Bangkok on 4 July 2017, participants agreed on the following key points:

  • Refocus the working group and its approach, given the new strategic direction toward health cooperation.
  • Continue to respond to demand for analysis and similar initiatives in higher education at the country level.
  • Cooperate with other development partners with expertise on labor and migration.
  • Integrate social development across all sectors of the GMS.
  • Develop the scope for a new Working Group on Health Cooperation.
  • Labor mobility.

Related


The Kim Thanh International Border Gate between Lao Cai (Viet Nam) and Yunnan Province (PRC) plays a vital role in the GMS northern corridor. Photo by ADB.

AEIR 2023 Highlights Deepening Integration, Continued Economic Growth in the GMS

The Asian Economic Integration Report 2023 highlights the continued growth of integration in subregional initiatives and programs in Southeast Asia, including both in the GMS and the ASEAN, from 2006 to 2020.

Caption: Photo by ADB

ADB Strengthens Cooperation with ASEAN on Disaster Risk Management

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has announced a grant of $1.3 million to advance disaster risk management in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) through technical assistance (TA). The TA will support the implementation of the ASEAN Agreement on Disaster Management and Emergency Response Work Programme, 2021–2025, which will strengthen regional cooperation on understanding, reducing, and managing transboundary risks.

Health outreach activities (left) and Cambodian migrant workers (right) at the border gate in Thailand.

ADB Approves $32.5 Million Financing to Boost Cambodia Border Health Services

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved $32.5 million in financing to improve access to quality health services in Banteay Meanchey, a border province in northwest Cambodia that serves as a hub for departing and returning migrants, and those seeking employment in the province’s special economic zones.

Migrant worker operates an electric loom in a textile mill. ©ILO/Areeluck Phankhian via Flickr

Improved Labor Management Initiatives Aim to Attract More Migrant Workers to Thailand

Mr. Pairoj Chotikasathien, head of the Thai Labour Ministry’s employment department, shared that the Thai Cabinet has approved improved labor management measures to address the gap in migrant worker employment. These measures include (i) allowing documented workers to stay until February 2025; and (ii) allowing undocumented workers to register and work until the same date. 

How to Successfully Operationalize One Health for a Green Recovery in the Greater Mekong Subregion?

The Asian Development Bank and the Nossal Institute for Global Health  hosted a virtual meeting titled,Regional Meeting: How to Successfully Operationalize One Health for a Green Recovery in the Greater Mekong Subregion?” on 7 April 2022 to present practical One Health actions in the context of the GMS green recovery agenda, discuss how to incentivize cross-sectoral support, and guide operational planning for future projects. This meeting, which was conducted under TA 9571-REG: Strengthening Regional Health Cooperation in the Greater Mekong Subregion, is a follow up to the previous meeting held on 3 June 2021, One Health in the GMS: Where are We Now and What Next?


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