VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

President Joko Widodo took advantage of the momentum of the ASEAN Plus 3 Summit to encourage all parties to improve health resilience mechanisms.

According to him, the Covid-19 pandemic has become a real warning of the need to improve health security systems at the national, regional, and global levels

President Joko Widodo encourages the ability of ASEAN Plus Three (APT) countries to have regional health resilience mechanisms.

This reflects the experience of the current Covid-19 pandemic so that in the future countries in the region can be prepared to face future pandemics.

During a virtual speech at the 23rd APT Summit on Saturday, at the Bogor Presidential Palace, West Java, President Joko Widodo shared a number of his views on efforts to strengthen these health resilience mechanisms.

According to Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi, the President invited all countries to come out of the pandemic together as winners. For this reason, according to him, the first step that needs to be encouraged is the development of health resilience at the national level.

"The challenge of each country is to build health access at affordable prices. If this is realized it will greatly help improve community resilience and public health capacity in times of emergency," Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said.

"The capacity of digital health technology is very important as part of the public health infrastructure. Online access to telehealth services is becoming increasingly relevant during a pandemic," she said.

"Therefore, the President said that collaboration between ASEAN Plus 3 countries is needed to build health infrastructure in each country," Retno said.

Furthermore, President Joko Widodo reminded the importance of cooperation in the health industry in the region.

According to Retno, President Joko Widodo again reminded the importance of working together to build a strong health industry, including in the fields of medical devices, medicines, medicinal raw materials, pharmaceuticals, and even vaccines.

"Of course, this industry must be supported by research and development capacities. And therefore ASEAN Plus 3 countries are important to build medical sciences hubs," Retno said.

Another thing that has also been highlighted by President Joko Widodo is the importance of establishing a comprehensive regional framework.

According to Retno, this framework could be in the form of a system, standard procedure, early warning system, or a medical device availability system.

In this case, Retno said, President Joko Widodo saw the need for an ASEAN Center to deal with issues of public health emergencies and emerging diseases.

According to Retno, President Joko Widodo said that the Covid-19 pandemic had summoned all countries to improve national, regional, and global health systems. (VOI)