The ASEAN region has faced many health challenges over the past few years due to emerging diseases. While the ASEAN Health Sector has regional mechanisms in place to respond to all hazards and emerging health threats, the region needs a single regional entity to fully coordinate measures on preparedness, prevention, detection and response to health threats, including pandemics. Enhancing these capacities has been ongoing within the ASEAN Health Sector together with support from external partners and ASEAN Secretariat.

A feasibility study, supported by the Government of Japan through the Japan-ASEAN Integration Fund (JAIF), is currently underway to assess the suitability of establishing an institution to promote public health and safety through control and prevention of disease, injury, and disability at the regional level. The study will assess the financial, organisational and technical feasibility of setting up an institution, tentatively named as the ASEAN Centre for Public Health Emergencies and Emerging Diseases. In addition, the study will identify regional gaps and specific needs for fully implementing the World Health Organization’s International Health Regulations 2005. Findings and recommendations of the study will be released in late October 2020 and shared at the 37th ASEAN Summit.

In addition to the above study, ASEAN-Japan cooperation in the area of COVID-19 has included technical support and sharing of information through various Plus Three platforms. Prime Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe highlighted that expansion of regional cooperation, with there being free, timely and transparent sharing of information, is crucial in managing the virus. Solid regional cooperation such as establishing the ASEAN Centre on Public Health Emergencies and Emerging Diseases, is needed. Prime Minister Abe also reaffirmed Japan’s commitment towards expanding clinical research to develop medicines needed in dealing with COVID-19.

Article is available for download on The ASEAN Magazine – Issue 3, July 2020, page 31.

The project, ASEAN SDGs Frontrunner Cities Programme – Upgrading the ASEAN ESC Model Cities Programme supported by Government of Japan through Japan-ASEAN Integration Fund (JAIF) aims to support the sustainable development in the ASEAN region.

In Myanmar, the project has piloted a waste composition study which surveyed data for five different categories (i.e. kitchen waste, plastic waste, business waste, organic waste and in-organic waste) within Bagan Archaeological Zone, which is part of the Bagan Cultural Heritage Area.

The study identified plastics and organic waste as the two main categories to be prioritized in reduction efforts. Subsequently, the project supported the establishment community composting and waste separation centres in 5 model villages. The project was led by Institute for Global Strategies-IGES and  the survey was completed by Myanmar Koei with funding support of USD 20,000 from JAIF.

The Government of Japan contributed approximately 5.5 billion yen to fund the establishment of the “ASEAN Infectious Disease Control Center” to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in response to the global outbreak of the new coronavirus. The aim is to improve measures against infectious diseases in the ASEAN region, and there is also the aim to increase Japan’s presence through this support.

The concept of establishing a new center was announced by Prime Minister Abe at a video conference between the ASEAN and the leaders of the three countries of Japan, China and South Korea in April. Japan will bear all of the establishment costs and will discuss operating costs in the future. In order to prevent the outbreak of COVID-19 and future infectious diseases, it is envisioned to conduct surveys and analysis on the infectious diseases and to train medical personnel.

Selection of candidate site and construction of the center will be implemented through contributions to the Japan-ASEAN Integration Fund (JAIF). By utilizing Japanese knowledge, the project aims to improve the medical standard in the ASEAN region, and assist Japanese companies to further advance into ASEAN.

Taking off from Go Negosyo’s Kapatid Mentor ME (KMME) Program, the ASEAN Business Advisory Council Philippines through Go Negosyo’s Founder PA Joey Concepcion’s chairmanship, is continuously pushing to make mentorship regional through its legacy project, ASEAN Mentorship for Entrepreneurs Network (AMEN).

Following the success of AMEN’s pilot runs in Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines supported by Government of Japan through Japan-ASEAN Integration Fund (JAIF), ASEAN-BAC held the live Stakeholder Meeting on 17 July 2019 at 9AM Manila time. Through the platform, regional experts and dialogue partners would share their best practices in helping their local MSMEs.

Japanese Standards Association (JSA), under the ASEAN cooperation project Development of ASEAN Common Qualification Scheme for Quality Control Experts supported by the Japan-ASEAN Integration Fund (JAIF). The project assists the ASEAN countries and contributes to the promotion of economic growth of the ASEAN countries by utilizing our experience in quality control education, which is QC KENTEI (Quality Management and Quality Control Examination).

This project is supporting to promote the level of quality control among people in companies, schools and contribute to improving the quality of products and services in ASEAN countries. Specifically, the design of a common QC KENTEI scheme will assess quality control competence for company employees in ASEAN countries. In Japan, JSA has been implementing the qualification scheme for QC KENTEI since 2005. Until the end of 2019, around 580,000 people have obtained qualification for all the grades (from 1 to 4) in total. Around 170,000 people have obtained grade 4 qualification. JSA has been entrusted with the JAIF project since 2020 to promote the level of quality control in ASEAN member countries.