(CEBU CITY, Cebu) — Members of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) are strengthening their cooperation to effectively fight pandemics that could impact heavily on their economies if such threats go out of control.
“We are actually forming networks. A network is important and I think they are trying to look at measures on how they can improve the surveillance of diseases,” Chairperson of the APEC 2015 Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM), Laura del Rosario, said during a press conference here Sunday when asked about health issues.
Member economies, she said, are studying how they could improve response and recovery systems for public health emergencies, even without pandemics spreading across the Asia-Pacific region.
“They also try to address non-communicable diseases, like disabilities, including mental illness,” she said, adding that the Philippines has tried to call attention to these issues.
The fast-paced growth and rapid urbanization create certain maladjustments among the population that some people become psychologically incapacitated, she explained.
Diseases and illnesses affect the productivity of a country, del Rosario pointed out, citing studies that show health issues affect a big percentage of production in the region.
“Definitely, a person who is sick is not productive and at the same time, the illness adds to the burden of the family, so it is a double whammy,” she said.
“For instance, if your father gets sick, you lose an income-earner and at the same time, you have to take care of him. So, it is a double loss for a family.”
Del Rosario further said that ongoing talks in the APEC try to encourage collaboration in research and innovation in health systems, as well as boost public-private partnership tie-ups to address health-related issues.
She observed that there is strong public-private cooperation among APEC member economies because they know that not every government could handle their problems alone and that even rich countries have to rely on the private sector.
The private sector, she said, does not undertake projects for charity, because it earns as it tries to help the government face the challenges in the public health sector.
Citing an example, she said that when the government plans to build more hospitals but lacks resources, private investors step in.
“(The government) encourages the establishment of private hospitals, so this is where public-private partnership comes in,” she said. (PND)
