Currently, the frequently occurred public health emergencies have increasingly been an issue of concern. In an interdependent and interconnected world as ours, the public health incident in one country may well affect other countries rapidly, even cause crisis in large area. Public Health emergency management constitutes the essential part of the health service system for a country, but also an imperative that requires international cooperation to forge collective response.
The areas of pandemic and public health management were presented as tangible areas of cooperation at 11th ASEM Foreign Ministers’ Meeting (ASEM FMM11). China’s proposal to organise a workshop on Public Health Emergency Management was welcome and endorsed at ASEM FMM11 and sponsored by ASEF.
The workshop included expert lecturing, presentation, interactive discussion, desk exercises, case study. Its topics covered various aspects of public health emergency management, such as surveillance, risk assessment, response, post-event evaluation and improvement, and response to infectious diseases and natural disasters.
A total number of 57 of participants brought together, including health practitioners, experts from World Health Organization (WHO) headquarters and its Western Pacific Regional Office (WPRO), representatives from ASEM Embassies in Beijing, experts and professionals from Centres for Dieases Control and Prevention (CDC) of some ASEM members and Chinese provincial CDCs, and representatives from universities and research institutions.
Some post-workshop materials that compiles the highlights of disccusiosn will be available at a later stage.