Minister of Health and Welfare Cho KyooHong on Aug. 9 will attend the second Korea-ASEAN and 10th ASEAN Plus Three (Korea, China and Japan) Health Ministers’ Meetings in Vientiane, Laos. Shown is a scene from the Korea-ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting on July 26 in Vientiane. (Ministry off Foreign Affairs)
By Gil Kyuyoung
The Ministry of Health and Welfare will strengthen bilateral cooperation with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to boost public health and wellness through digital technology.
The ministry on Aug. 5 said Minister Cho KyooHong on Aug. 9 will attend both the second Korea-ASEAN and 10th ASEAN Plus Three (Korea, China and Japan) Health Ministers’ Meetings in Vientiane, Laos.
These meetings will focus on reinforcing regional health security and cooperating in promoting wellness through digital health. Korea and Laos will jointly chair both meetings.
At the talks, Minister Cho will stress the importance of digital technology amid the rapidly changing environment for health care due to rapid aging worldwide and emerging crises in public health.
He will also suggest a vision for cooperation using Korea’s skills in public health.
Over the short term, Korea will conduct consulting on ASEAN’s digitalization of public health and raising human resource capacity in health care’s digital transition. For the long term, it will support the drafting of strategies for the digital transformation of ASEAN’s public health.
The ministry is expected to have its vision adopted in a joint statement and request the support and participation of ASEAN member states at the meetings.
Before the meetings, Minister Cho will visit Singapore from Aug. 7-8 to discuss cooperation in health care including bilateral research and development in the sector. He will hold talks with Senior Minister of State Janil Puthucheary at the Singaporean Ministry of Health, scientists, business leaders, and Agency for Science, Technology and Research Chairman Tan Chorh Chuan.
gilkyuyoung@korea.kr
