"Resilience Begins at Home": Cambodia Calls for Collective Action at ASEAN Health Ministers Meeting

PHNOM PENH, September 10, 2026 – ASEAN's resilience begins with resilient national health systems, and that resilience grows stronger when countries work together, Cambodia's Minister of Health, Professor Chheang Ra, told the 17th ASEAN Health Ministers Meeting in Kuala Lumpur on September 10.

Speaking at the plenary session alongside health ministers from all 11 ASEAN Member States and representatives from the World Health Organization, Minister Chheang Ra delivered an intervention under the theme "Synergising Health Systems for Resilience, Well-Being and Health Security."

He noted that lessons from the fight against pandemics have shown that a health system's strength depends not only on its individual components but also on the level of cooperation and joint action. To move from fragmented efforts to integrated, long-term resilience, he outlined three priority areas: recognizing health challenges as a shared regional concern requiring cross-border cooperation; strengthening leadership and collective strategic direction; and embedding sustainability into the architecture of cooperation through governance, stable financing, interoperable technologies, and mutual trust.

The meeting, chaired by Malaysia's Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr. Haji Dzulkefly Ahmad, adopted several key documents, including the ASEAN Strategic Health Agenda 2026–2030, the Governance and Implementation Mechanism, and the Joint Statement of the 17th AHMM.

— Source: Ministry of Health of Cambodia

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Reported by The Khmer Today