The ASEAN is committed to strengthening disaster health management in the region through the articulation of a set of priorities in the ASEAN Leaders’ Declaration on Disaster Health Management (ALD-DHM) that was adopted at the 31st ASEAN Summit on 13 November 2017. One of the priorities includes establishing the collaboration mechanism for comprehensive capacity strengthening on disaster health management at national and regional levels. The priorities include education and academic activities which the Declaration aims to “Strengthen the cooperation and enhancement of active Academic Network among DHM Programme to conduct research and extract lessons learned from DHM in multiple events and countries, in support of the development of new solutions and innovation”.

The promotion of academic activities is a component of Priority Area 5 on Knowledge Management (KM) on DHM in the POA which will be implemented through two broad activities: “Support participation in regional academic conferences on DHM” (5.1.1), and “Strengthen the cooperation between active academic networks among DHM programmes” (5.1.2).  Furthermore, the POA outlines that “A Regional Conference on Disaster Health Management is organized every two years” as one of the 21 Targets which are to be achieved by 2025, which also include a target on “A network of national academic institutions is established to organize training activities at the national level.”

Thailand is enthusiastic about the opportunity to host the Third AAC on DHM with a more interactive approach. This conference will showcase the achievements resulting from a decade of development and efforts of the AMSs and the Project for Strengthening the ASEAN Regional Capacity on Disaster Health Management (ARCH Project), which is set to conclude in 2026. It is highly preferable and symbolically significant that this final conference of the ARCH Project be held in Thailand where as the leading country of the Project. Hosting the conference in Thailand will ensure continuity and provide a fitting conclusion to the Project’s objectives, reflecting on the progress made and setting the stage for future endeavors.