Regional Collaboration for Civil Society to Strengthen Health Systems and Advance A Rights-Based and People-Centred Vision for Health in Asia Pacific.
Siem Reap, Cambodia, 21 June 2024 –Civil society and community organizations from across the Asia-Pacific region gathered in Siem Reap, Cambodia, for a pivotal event dedicated to advancing a rights-based, people-centered vision for health. Building on the momentum of previous convenings in Jakarta, Bangkok and New York around the High-Level Meetings (HLMs) on health, the convening aims to further strengthen advocacy efforts for accountable and effective health systems in the region.
APCASO, KHANA and ACT! Asia-Pacific, with the Stop TB Partnership hosted by UNOPS and Expertise France/L’ Initiative, are co-convening the multi-stakeholder Asia-Pacific regional meeting, “Beyond the HLMs, One Region: From Unified Vision to Action” taking place from 19-21 June 2024 in Siem Reap Cambodia. The convening was made possible through the support of Stop TB Partnership via the Challenge Facility for Civil Society (CFCS).
In 2023, APCASO and its partners set forth a vision for a people-centered, rights-based, and accountable approach to the United Nations High-Level Meetings (UNHLMs) on Tuberculosis (TB), Universal Health Coverage (UHC), and Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness, and Response (PPPR). This vision was realized through a groundbreaking convening in Jakarta, Indonesia, which brought together over 80 regional and national civil society organizations and community-led groups from 19 countries. The historic convening, “3 HLMs. 1 Region. A Unified Vision,” marked the first civil society-led process that fostered multi-stakeholder dialogue and collaboration on these critical health issues. The outcome was the adoption of the regional statement, “Resilient, Sustainable, and Fully Resourced Systems for Health,” underscoring a commitment to meaningful and strategic partnerships.
A subsequent meeting in Bangkok, Thailand, in July 2023, further solidified these efforts. The roundtable dialogue, “Champions(AP) Rising: Asia-Pacific Responding, Showing Initiative and Solidarity,” brought together civil society and government representatives from 10 countries. Participants shared insights on the UNHLM processes and strategized on advancing the civil society agenda through the Regional Statement, aiming for health policies that are people-centered, rights-based, and accountable.
These initiatives equipped the Asia-Pacific community to actively engage in the 78th UN General Assembly in September 2023, where three political declarations on PPPR, UHC, and TB were adopted. Despite these declarations not fully meeting civil society’s aspirations, significant progress was made in terms of community engaging in the processes. Recognizing that these commitments must be effectively implemented at the country level, a meeting in Bangkok in December 2023 focused on sustaining advocacy and mobilization efforts post-HLMs. This led to the development of country-specific and regional action plans, emphasizing the need for a robust advocacy and accountability mechanisms to ensure governments uphold their commitments.
The recent Siem Reap 2024 meeting build on these foundations and furthered the Asia-Pacific health agenda. The objectives for the convening included sharing developments on the 3 HLMs at global, regional, and country levels, especially in the context of monitoring and accountability for each of the HLMs. Additionally, it identifed key issues and moments that can be leveraged for cross-sector advocacy and accountability and to increase political support and leadership from governments in the region to push for the 3 HLM PD agenda in the region is the primary aim. The focus was on critical intersectional issues such as climate justice, antimicrobial resistance (AMR), and inclusive PPPR.
This event represented a continued commitment to a unified, people-centered, and rights-based approach to health across the Asia-Pacific region. “APCASO’s support towards Asia-Pacific civil society and community engagement with health HLMs goes back to our vision of having people-centred, equitable, rights-based and gender-just health responses in the region,“ said RD Marte, Executive Director of APCASO. ” This meeting in Siem Reap is one step in a longer set of processes we are committing to facilitate to remind our governments to see through the promises they gave September last year at the UN HLMs on UHC, TB and PPPR.”
“As KHANA, and TB People Cambodia, we sincerely thank the MoH and CENAT for partnering with APCASO, and ACT!AP, as regional convenors with technical partners for being a great local host, for this important regional meeting. This reflected true leadership and partnership of the Royal Government of Cambodia in promoting and improving health outcomes of the most marginalized and vulnerable populations for TB and other pandemics through all society, all government and all civil society approaches for health by leaving no one behind. The three-day meeting brought together more than 100 participants from 20 countries in the region representing governments, civil society organizations, technical partners, and development partners. This means improving health outcome of those who are marginalized and vulnerable populations to TB and other health related issues require strong, real and meaningful collaboration, engagement and partnership across sectors”, said Choub Sok Chamreun, excutive Director, KHANA Cambodia
The meeting resulted in the Siem Reap Statement that reiterated our commitment to advancing a rights-based, people-centered vision for health that calls for action on new and emerging issues. The meeting was concluded with a keynote speech by Her Excellency Dr Youk Sambath, Secretary of State, Ministry of Health Cambodia, “I am so pleased that the regional meeting here is finally possible, through our partnership with KHANA, APCASO and other partners. I am so happy that the discussion within the past three day went so well with clear agreement and commitment and actions, as clearly mentioned in the Siem Reap Statement. It is great to see, here in addition to having regional partners and stakeholders, we have other ministries and partners, as addressing health requires beyond just the health approach”
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About APCASO: APCASO is a regional civil society network organization that serves as a catalytic platform for advocacy and community strengthening for health, social justice, and human rights for key, vulnerable, and marginalized communities in Asia and the Pacific. We work with civil society and community-led organisational partners in the region and beyond to promote people-centered, rights-based approaches to health policy and practice.
About KHANA: Khmer HIV/AIDS NGO Alliance or KHANA (est. 1996 and registered and recognized by the Ministry of Interior in 2000), is a leading Cambodian non-governmental organization dedicated to improving public health by providing HIV, TB, prevention, care, and support services at the community level in Cambodia. KHANA also specializes in the field of integrated sexual and reproductive health, family planning, maternal child health, viral hepatitis, NCD response, and livelihoods programming. Its Vision is to ensure community ownership and empowerment so that all people have equitable access to high-quality HIV, TB, and other health services, and sustainable development opportunities.
About Stop TB Partnership: The Stop TB Partnership, hosted by UNOPS with its Secretariat in Geneva, unites 1,600 global organizations to advocate for ending tuberculosis (TB). Established in 2000, the Partnership leads efforts in funding innovative TB treatments, procuring drugs and diagnostics, and reducing costs through a market-shaping strategy. By empowering communities and promoting leadership, the Partnership ensures a people-centered, rights-based, and gender-transformative response to TB, providing a unified voice and high-level engagement for the global TB community.