Themes

For over 60 years, rapid development has taken place in the ASEAN and Malaysian communities. Six decades is a long time, and a variety of social changes have taken place during that period. Development is aimed at upgrading or elevating the life status of communities towards that of developed countries in the aspects of health, economy, urbanisation, and formal education. However, behind this developmental progress is the impact of the changes on the lives and well-being of older people.

by Resilience Development Initiative and Aly Diana ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community Policy Brief

#7 ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community Policy Brief The ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community (ASCC) Policy Brief is a publication of the ASCC Department at the ASEAN Secretariat. It identifies trends and challenges that will impact ASEAN and ASCC sectors and propose policy-relevant solutions and recommendations to uplift the quality of lives of ASEAN people. This policy brief discusses ASEAN’s progress in developing resilient health systems. It recommends more research and development, supply chain connectivity and resource pooling, and stronger primary health care to improve the ability of countries to deliver the health needs of their population at all times and withstand and respond to future emergencies.

The concept of loss and damage was first raised in the 1991 climate change negotiations by Vanuatu as a facility to compensate small island developing states for the devastating impacts of sea-level rise. Subsequently, the term “loss and damage” has come to be understood as any negative consequences of climate change on economic, social and environmental systems.

Sixty youth representatives from the ASEAN Member States gathered in Jakarta on 10-14 April 2023, for the second ASEAN Youth Dialogue on Digital Development for SDGs. Indonesia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Youth and Sports hosted and organised the event.

To welcome the golden anniversary of ASEAN-Japan Friendship and Cooperation, the newly appointed Ambassador of Japan to ASEAN, Kiya Masahiko, hit the ground running by bringing eight soba masters from Miyagi prefecture to ASEAN. The artisans were in Jakarta on 22 December 2022, to treat the ASEAN Secretariat with delicious soba, a traditional Japanese buckwheat noodle dish.

For 2022, the Underwriters Laboratories-ASEAN-US Science Prize for Women was awarded to four outstanding women scientists in the field of artificial intelligence in health and safety.