Dr Jemilah Mahmood, special adviser to the prime minister on public health, added that the region could do so if it is committed and pools its resources together.
“The world has changed so fast in a different context and we need to do more.
“Asean has great potential and we should have the commitment to fund these systems for the greater good.”
She said Covid-19 is not a health crisis that emerged on its own and everyone needs to link it with health and climate change.
“Until and unless we have conversations that are linked, we will not have a holistic approach to be adaptable and resilient,” she said during a webinar called “Temasek Shophouse Conversation: Covid-19 Lessons for Disease X”.
The keynote address was given by Heng Swee Keat, Singapore’s deputy prime minister and its coordinating minister for economic policies.
According to Jemilah, having experienced and survived many diseases in the past, Asean nations need to take the lead.
“The key to fighting health pandemics is to be prepared.
“With this crisis, we have the opportunity we need to look at public health during a humanitarian crisis. We have the inventory list,” she added.
Jemilah said that the Covid-19 pandemic is part of a reality check as it affects the community and the solutions must come from communities as they participate in behavioural change.
Another panellist, Indonesian ambassador to Singapore Suryo Pratomo, agreed with Jemilah, stating Asean needs to move forward and think of the new diseases that could emerge in the future, adding that a health centre for the region was needed.
As for reopening borders in the midst of the pandemic, Suryo said travelling is not advisable at the moment as a lot of patients are asymptomatic.
“Singapore has imposed a 14-day quarantine for those coming into its country, and that protects Singapore.”
He said in Indonesia, they are looking to quarantine people on an island before allowing them to travel.
Prof Tan Chorh Chuan, chief health scientist for the Singapore health ministry, said better coordination was needed in procuring Covid-19 vaccines as some countries have three to five times more than what they need.
Tan said the best way to deal with a pandemic in the future is by being prepared from the beginning.
At the global level, he said countries unable to deal with the pandemic would need emergency assistance, be it in terms of financing and ability to deploy expertise.
“We may then have a better chance to contain (a pandemic),” Tan said.
Another panellist, Sebastian Maurer-Stroh, of Bioinformatics Institute, said information needs to be freely shared to handle any new disease.
For instance, he said Indonesia had freely shared information on avian flu in the past.
“They trusted that the data given to big countries is not misused by other countries. There was trust. This is also a great way to tackle future diseases.”
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