Regional collaboration critical as ASEAN invests in digital transformation to future-proof healthcare systems: 2nd ASEAN Digital Public Health Conference
- Written by Daily Sun
This clarion call comes as ASEAN nations work to digitally transform their healthcare systems and make them more integrated and resilient. The objective is to future-proof the healthcare systems to provide more optimized health outcomes, and better deal with future disease outbreaks and healthcare pressures from aging populations.
Beyond collaboration, the need for greater investments in research, and how to maximize the return on healthcare investments given the perennial need for funding, were among the key themes that resonated across 1.5 days of keynote addresses and panel discussions at the 2nd ASEAN Digital Public Health Conference, which took place in Brunei Darussalam and online recently.
Hosted by the Ministry of Finance and Economy and the Ministry of Health in Brunei, the conference, themed “Health and Healthcare Beyond COVID-19: Building Forward Together”, was organized by EVYD Technology in partnership with the Brunei Investment Agency and the National University of Singapore Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, and supported by Temasek Foundation.
Following the success of the inaugural conference last year, this year’s event was attended by over 500 participants and featured more than 60 prominent speakers from the health and finance sectors, including ASEAN Ministers, government authorities, multidisciplinary experts, and leaders from industry, inter-governmental and non-governmental organizations.
Among the highlights of the conference was a Fireside Chat with H.E. Dato Dr Mohd Amin Liew Abdullah, Minister at The Prime Minister’s Office and Minister of Finance and Economy II, Brunei, moderated by Prof Annie Koh, Professor Emeritus of Finance (Practice), Singapore Management University. Dato Amin shared Brunei’s long-term perspective toward healthcare spend on digital transformation and how the nation is optimizing investments through technological innovation.
This includes expanding its BruHealth COVID-19 pandemic management mobile app into a national and individual health management app. The app now enables every Brunei resident to keep track of his/her medical appointments, view personal health records including laboratory, X-ray and radiology results, and schedule video consultations with doctors, dietitians or for other clinical services. It also encourages them to improve their health with prompts to lead a more active lifestyle and informative tips, including on nutrition. EVYD Technology is partnering the Ministry of Health, Brunei on the development and on-going evolution of the app.
Following this was a keynote address delivered by H.E. Ong Ye Kung, Minister for Health, Singapore, on Healthier SG – Insights and Experience. He spoke about how the country successfully launched Healthier SG, a national initiative to make the Singapore healthcare system more sustainable by shifting its focus from curative to preventive treatment. Mr Ong said that digital technology is enabling individuals to take greater ownership of their health, and centralized IT systems are powering integrated and seamless healthcare.
Another keynote address was by Tan Sri Dr Subramaniam Sathasivam, Former Minister of Health, Malaysia and Co-Chair of the country’s Health White Paper Advisory Council. Tan Sri Subramaniam gave a preview of what Malaysia is trying to achieve with its upcoming Health White Paper – to remake the country’s healthcare system to be more sustainable and resilient, and attempt to ringfence healthcare reform from political changes for long-term stability and development.
Dr Ang Swee Hui, Deputy Permanent Secretary (Professional), Ministry of Health (MOH), Brunei, gave a keynote address on Brunei Darussalam’s Digital Healthcare Transformation. He covered Brunei’s holistic approach to healthcare leveraging technological innovation – including integrating the population’s medical health records and leveraging EVYD Technology’s EVYDENCE platform to integrate information from multiple systems, including BruHealth. This enables the provision of more individualized care to all residents, including advice on how to live and eat more healthily. The Ministry of Health, Brunei together with EVYD Technology, is continually developing and assessing the on-going evolution of the app.
Professor John CW Lim, Executive Director, Centre of Regulatory Excellence at Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore, also delivered a keynote address on Challenges, Opportunities and the Way Forward for Digital Health Regulation in ASEAN. He highlighted that promoting greater regional collaboration to co-create, coordinate and clarify digital health regulation when the technologies, applications and guidelines are still at a nascent stage, will be a key enabler of digital health.
The conference also featured an ASEAN Health Ministerial panel on Building a Resilient ASEAN, featuring H.E. Dato Dr Hj Md Isham bin Jaafar, Minister of Health, Brunei; H.E. Dr Lo Veasnakiry, Vice-Minister of Health, Cambodia; H.E. Dr Prastuti Soewondo, Special Adviser to the Minister of Health, Indonesia; H.E. Bounfeng Phoummalaysith, Minister of Health, Laos; H.E. Dr Aye Tun, Deputy Minister of Health, Myanmar; H.E. Dr Lilibeth C. David, Under-Secretary of Health for Health Policy and Infrastructure Development, Philippines; and H.E. Sopon Mekthon, Vice Minister for Public Health, Thailand, and moderated by Professor David Koh of the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, National University of Singapore. The speakers shared key learnings surrounding the vital role of digital technologies in combating the COVID-19 pandemic and highlighted the need for regional and global cooperation and information-sharing to counter public health emergencies, as well as the need for early warning systems that offer surveillance of healthcare threats, such as infectious diseases.
“COVID-19 has resulted in a sea change in healthcare delivery, with digital technologies emerging as a powerful tool to tackle the twin challenges of effectively managing future outbreaks and optimizing health outcomes for aging populations. As healthcare is one of the most important yet complex sectors, effective strategies require alignment and collaboration of multiple stakeholders. Against this backdrop, the conference acts as a platform to bring these stakeholders together to facilitate greater regional collaboration and make a difference in the health of the peoples of South East Asia. We are indebted to all our moderators and speakers, who willingly gave of their time and vaunted expertise to contribute to driving these important regional healthcare discussions,” said Mr Chua Ming Jie, Chief Executive Officer of EVYD Technology.
“Over the last three years, many countries in ASEAN have strengthened their digital health architectures and used new electronic tools that go beyond just pandemic management to also providing cutting-edge ways of practising precision public health. I hope that our discussions at this conference will lead us to develop this smarter, more agile, more data-driven vision of public health in the ASEAN region that can serve as a starting point for renewed cooperation and concrete work on digital public health towards regional health resilience. As a region, we must continue to prioritize the right investments in our health systems, and take the appropriate tough decisions to ensure that we keep our people healthy and well,” shared H.E. Dato Dr Hj Md Isham bin Jaafar, Minister of Health, Brunei.
The first ASEAN Digital Public Health Conference was held on 6 and 7 October 2021 in Brunei and Singapore. Carrying the theme “Collaborate for a Happier and Healthier World Post Pandemic”, speakers from around the world including ministers and top government officials, leading medical professionals, industry leaders, researchers and scientists led and participated in panel discussions, and attracted over 500 professionals to join different sessions physically and virtually. The topics covered included how to manage COVID-19 and build a resilient economy post-pandemic, as well as how to drive public health forward through investment and collaboration.
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About the Ministry of Finance and Economy
Ministry of Finance and Economy (MOFE), Brunei Darussalam is a government agency responsible in ensuring financial and economic sustainability for the country. MOFE is also mandated in the allocation of annual expenditure of the implementation of government’s infrastructure project, whilst also formulating policies and guidelines to stimulate economic growth and development in the country. MOFE is guided by 4 core values, which are Faithful & Obedience; Excellence & Teamwork; Accountability and Integrity; and Innovation – as we strive towards realising our vision.
About the Ministry of Health
The Ministry of Health is a government agency that aspires to improve the health and wellbeing of the people of Brunei Darussalam through a high quality and comprehensive health care system which is effective, efficient, responsive, affordable, equitable and accessible to all in the country. The Ministry of Health stands firm in its vision Together Towards A Healthy Nation and will continue to focus on strengthening the building blocks to a health system encompassing service delivery, provision of medicines, medical technology and infrastructure, healthcare financing, human resources; governance as well as information technology and research. The Ministry of Health is guided by 5 strategic directions, incorporating the key elements essential for a robust health system and consistently place people at the centre of our healthcare.
About EVYD Technology
EVYD Technology is a healthcare artificial intelligence (AI) and Big Data company with the mission to transform healthcare using data intelligence. Its solutions enable value-based healthcare that is safer, better and more accessible for global communities. It offers solutions to policymakers to enhance public health monitoring, generate insights for policymaking and implement initiatives such as value-based healthcare and population health management. It also offers solutions to the research community to enhance the efficiency and quality of their research, from which insights generated could be leveraged to benefit the broader ecosystem. The company’s flagship EVYDENCE operating platform aggregates raw data that reside in disparate information systems and convert them into computable, structured and standardised data so that they could be further processed to derive deep insights and knowledge using natural language processing, machine learning and other AI technologies. EVYD Technology is a Brunei Investment Agency investee company.
For more information, visit https://www.evydtech.com
About the Brunei Investment Agency
Brunei Investment Agency is a body corporate established on 1 July 1983 that holds and manages Brunei Darussalam’s general reserve funds and its external assets. The Agency is an investment arm of the Government of Brunei Darussalam.
Its mission is to safeguard Brunei Darussalam’s sovereign nationhood through dynamic reserve management. The Agency has diverse investments in Listed Assets, Alternative Assets and Real Estate globally. It has offices in Brunei and London with over 200 employees with significant experience and expertise.
About NUS Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health
Building upon decades of experience in research, training and practice in epidemiology and public health since 1948, the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, under the National University of Singapore, was established in October 2011 as Singapore’s national school of public health. The School is also a member of the National University Health System (NUHS).
The School aims to continually foster healthier communities in Singapore and the region, and impact public health programmes and policies through its robust educational programmes and translational cross-disciplinary research work on cohort studies and life course epidemiology, infectious disease research, health technology assessments, health promotion, workplace safety and health, health systems evaluation and health services research. An interdisciplinary approach, augmented by rigorous training, applicable research and regional partnerships, places the School at the forefront of public health knowledge discovery and practice in Asia.
The School actively collaborates with many partners including the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and University of Michigan School of Public Health. Its flagship programme, the Master of Public Health (MPH) degree, attracts students from a wide range of disciplines from within Singapore and throughout the region.
For more information, visit sph.nus.edu.sg
About Temasek Foundation
Temasek Foundation supports a diverse range of programmes that uplift lives and communities in Singapore and beyond. Temasek Foundation’s programmes are made possible through philanthropic endowments gifted by Temasek, as well as gifts and other contributions from other donors. These programmes strive towards achieving positive outcomes for individuals and communities now, and for generations to come. Collectively, Temasek Foundation’s programmes strengthen social resilience, foster international exchange and regional capabilities, advance science, and protect the planet.
For more information, visit www.temasekfoundation.org.sg