The 12th ASEAN Health Ministers’ Meeting wrapped up in Hanoi onSeptember 19, adopting several joint statements of the meeting and itsrelated ones.

The joint statements wereannounced at an international press conference later the same day underthe chair of ASEAN Secretary General Le Luong Minh and Vietnamese HealthMinister Nguyen Thi Kim Tien.

Under the jointstatement of the 12th ASEAN Health Ministers’ Meeting, ASEAN membercountries committed to strengthening cooperation in a range of fields,including fostering healthy lifestyle, dealing with pressing risks,improving the healthcare system and ensuring food safety.

They agreed to intensify initial healthcare work towards theall-people health insurance coverage, and to work together to preventand control non-contagious diseases and newly-emerging infectious ones,and set up a sustainable and effective health financing system.

The sixth ASEAN Health Ministers Plus Three (Japan, the Republic ofKorea and China) issued a Joint Statement vowing to strengthencollaboration in the health sector.

Accordingly,they will focus on expanding health insurance coverage, initial healthcare, managing health calamities, coping with an aging population,responding to pandemics, containing diseases transmitted from animals tohumans, and preventing HIV/AIDS, rabies and malaria.

Meanwhile, the Joint Statement of the fifth ASEAN Health MinistersPlus China affirmed the signatories’ pledge to join hands to increasethe capacity of health workers, prevent such newly-emerging infectiousdiseases as Ebola, H7N9, H5N1 and MERS-CoV, and reduce tobacco use.

The 12th ASEAN Health Ministers’ Meeting and related meetings took place in Hanoi from September 15-19.

A Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation in health between ASEANand the World Health Organisation was signed at the event.-VNA