ASEAN conference assesses health impacts towards sustainable growth

The event drew about 300 specialists, scientists and management officials in the public health sector from ASEAN countries.

Addressing the event, Prof. Cao Ngoc Thanh, Headmaster of the Hue University for Medicine and Pharmacy said that Vietnam and other ASEAN member countries are facing challenges in protecting and caring for people’s health.

Climate change and environmental pollution have changed the structure of diseases and caused new health troubles, he noted.

With the aim to build an ASEAN Community with good health, good care and sustainability, the assessment of health effects is significant in analyzing, building and choosing most suitable medical programmes and policies.

Along with nearly 30 reports from scientists from various regional countries, the conference also heard experience and research outcomes in the field, including in building and maintaining database to serve research.

A number of training courses and seminars on particular topics such as dengue fever and initial health care services were also held by the Hue University of Medicine and Pharmacy and Thailand National Health Commission.

The conference also set up a cooperation network for the sustainable development of the health impact assessment system in Vietnam, Thailand and other countries in the region and the world.

Health impact assessment, first introduced to ASEAN in 2010, mainly aims at assisting policy-makers and stakeholders in reducing negative impacts and increasing positive effects on people’s health. The assessment of health and environmental impacts has become an important tool to improve living conditions, contributing to designing health care policies suitable for the economic development of each country.