SUMMARY OF ASEAN HEALTH MINISTERS RETREAT BY CHAIRMAN OF THE 10TH ASEAN HEALTH MINISTERS MEETING

22 Jul 2010

By Mr Khaw Boon Wan

Venue: Shangri-la, Singapore

We discussed the status of the H1N1 pandemic in the region and reviewed the control and prevention measures undertaken by ASEAN member states.

Situation in ASEAN 

We note that the H1N1 outbreak has entered the post-pandemic phase. 

All ASEAN states have stepped down or are in the process of stepping down their pandemic alert status to the post-pandemic level, and agree that the H1N1 pandemic no longer poses an immediate public health threat to the international community.  H1N1 has passed its peak and is now in transition to becoming seasonal influenza.  However, we also agreed that it is important to educate the public on good hygiene and encourage high risk groups to go for seasonal flu vaccination if they have not done so.

Review of pandemic status and response

We noted that the World Health Organization is currently reviewing the influenza pandemic status and the appropriate pandemic alert level.

Going forward, we urge the World Health Organization to review pandemic alert levels taking into consideration the severity or virulence factor for future pandemics.

In addition, we look forward to a speedy resolution of the mechanism for virus and benefit sharing.

We welcome the review of the global response to the H1N1 pandemic by the International Health Regulation Review Committee, and look forward to the outcome of the review.

ASEAN Dengue Day

While the H1N1 outbreak has passed its peak, we also have to address perennial threats such as dengue fever.  We agree to designate an ASEAN Dengue Day, to spread awareness of this problem. 

EAS Health Collaboration 

We also discussed possible health collaboration between ASEAN and the other EAS (East Asia Summit) countries.

When fighting international disease outbreaks like H1N1 and SARS, we are most effective when working with as many of our neighbours as possible. We tasked our senior officials to study how the EAS health collaboration can be implemented, taking an incremental approach on specific issues that would bring real benefits to the health of our people in ASEAN.

22 JULY 2010