Enhancing Regional Health Cooperation under CAREC 2030: A Scoping Study

By Asian Development Bank

Promoting regional cooperation in the health sector is an operational priority of the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) Strategy 2030. This scoping study assesses the potential of CAREC to promote regional cooperation and integration in the health sector to mitigate risks and develop national health systems. The study specifically reviews the burden of communicable and noncommunicable diseases and their risk factors, along with the progress and challenges in health systems development in the CAREC region. Based on the assessment, the study recommends strengthening regional health security; developing health systems through regional cooperation; and improving health services for migrants, mobile populations, and border communities.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Asian Development Bank
• Release date: Jul 1, 2021
• ISBN: 9789292629328

Book preview

ENHANCING REGIONAL HEALTH COOPERATION UNDER CAREC 2030

A SCOPING STUDY

JULY 2021

Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 IGO license (CC BY 3.0 IGO)

© 2021 Asian Development Bank

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Some rights reserved. Published in 2021.

ISBN 978-92-9262-931-1 (print); 978-92-9262-932-8 (electronic); 978-92-9262-933-5 (ebook)

Publication Stock No. TCS210237-2

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.22617/TCS210237-2

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Cover design by Keisuke Taketani.

CONTENTS

TABLES, FIGURES, AND BOXES

FOREWORD

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has been a reminder to the global community that viruses do not stop at national borders. Cooperation between countries has once again proved to be a necessity in addressing regional health threats and safeguarding population health. Cooperation in health can also help find solutions for other challenges, such as addressing noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), upgrading skills of health care workers, protecting health of migrant workers, and providing quality health services to border communities.

The Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) Program is a partnership of 11 countries, supported by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and other development partners, working together to promote development through cooperation, leading to accelerated growth and poverty reduction. The CAREC 2030 strategy, endorsed at the 16th CAREC Ministerial Conference in October 2017, has expanded cooperation into new areas—including human development to better address the region’s development needs and help its member countries achieve the 2030 Global Development Agenda. Health cooperation has been identified as a new priority area as part of the human development cluster under the CAREC 2030 strategy. It supports CAREC countries in addressing pandemic risks and control of communicable diseases, as well as in addressing NCDs.

This scoping study is a first step toward enhancing regional health cooperation in the CAREC region. It reviews the health sector progress and challenges and explores the potential role of CAREC in promoting regional cooperation for improved health outcomes in the region. The study reveals the extent of the burden of NCDs and communicable diseases in the CAREC region, and related strengths and weaknesses of health systems. It identifies the following strategic areas in advancing regional health cooperation: (i) strengthening regional health security; (ii) developing health systems through regional cooperation; and (iii) improving health services for migrants, mobile populations, and border communities. Given the COVID-19 pandemic, initial regional cooperation activities may focus on strengthening regional preparedness and resilience to ongoing and emerging infectious diseases. The study proposes the establishment of a working group for health comprising of relevant officials from CAREC countries, and the formulation of regional health strategy leading to 2030, to provide institutional support for health sector cooperation.

ADB would like to thank the active engagement and commitment of member countries to the process of advancing regional health cooperation. The scoping study was presented and discussed with CAREC countries and development partners at a virtual regional workshop on 15 October 2020. The study was then finalized, incorporating comments and suggestions from the CAREC countries. This study forms the basis of preparing a regional health strategy that is planned to be tabled for endorsement of CAREC Ministers in November 2021.

ADB, as a close partner of CAREC, looks forward to supporting this process and engaging with CAREC countries and development partners in jointly promoting and advancing regional health cooperation.

Yevgeniy Zhukov

Director General

Central and West Asia Department

Asian Development Bank

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This study was undertaken on behalf of the CAREC Secretariat of ADB. The team would like to thank Rie Hiraoka, director, Social Sector Division; and Safdar Parvez, director, Regional Cooperation and Operations Coordination Division, Central and West Asia Department, for the overall guidance.

The CAREC Secretariat at ADB administered and managed the production of this scoping study. The Secretariat team supporting CAREC health work includes Saad Paracha, senior regional cooperation specialist and CAREC unit head; Xinglan Hu, principal regional cooperation specialist; Rouselle Lavado, senior health specialist; Kirthi Ramesh, social sector specialist; Dorothea Lazaro, regional cooperation specialist; Irene de Roma, programs officer; Maria Cecilia Sison, operations assistant; and Gladys Ann R. Maravilla, operations assistant. Patricia Georgina Gonzales and Ammar Aftab, ADB consultants, provided data research. Reviews, inputs and feedback were provided by Eduardo Banzon, principal health specialist; Najibullah Habib, health specialist; Hiddo Huitzing, health specialist; Susann Roth, advisor and chief; Azusa Sato, health specialist; Cebele Wong, young professional; and Guoliang Wu, principal results management specialist.

The team expresses its appreciation to the regional cooperation coordinators and national focal points’ advisors of all CAREC countries for the assistance extended in organizing the virtual regional consultation workshop. The team would also like to extend its profound gratitude to all participants of the health workshop for their valuable inputs, feedback, and contributions.

The team would further like to express their gratitude to experts and colleagues at the Global Fund (Alexey Bobrik, Michael Borowitz, Valeria Grishechkina, Corina Maxim, and Tatiana Vinichenko), Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance (Nilgun Aydogan, Santiago Cornejo, Jamilya Sherova, and Joanna Wisniewska), Project HOPE, Project ECHO (Bruce Baird Struminger), National Institute of Public Health in Mexico (Pedro Saturno Hernandez), UNICEF (Joan Howe and Artashes Mirzoyan), World Health Organization (WHO) (Dorit Nitzan), Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (Mohsen Naghavi and Sofia B. Redford), and Alan Lopez (University of Melbourne) who have been consulted during the preparation of this study and provided meaningful insights and suggestions.

The principal author of this study is Mariya Khatiwada-Savchuk. The contributions of all CAREC member countries and of WHO are acknowledged. Vincent De Wit provided peer review and additional inputs.

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